Ingebrigtsen wins 5k Ultimate Championship days after bitter Diamond League controversy
Jakob Ingebrigtsen put the controversy surrounding his Diamond League final defeat behind him with a characteristic late victory in the inaugural World Athletics Championships 5000m on Friday.
Just days after calling his 1500m rivals “a bunch of cowards” following his fourth-place finish in Brussels, the Norwegian Olympic champion returned to the track and provided a much more emphatic response. Ingebrigtsen clocked a season-best 12:59.24 and moved from the back of the field in the closing laps before taking the 100 meters to the finish line.
Cole Hocker, the Olympic 1500m champion, finished second in 13:00:05, while American Parker Wolfe took third in 13:00:13. Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 5000 meters in the Ultimate Championship. (Photo by Reuters)
INGEBRIGTSEN’S LATE AIR
For most of the race, Ingebrigtsen stayed at the back of the team and allowed his rivals to dictate the pace. He gradually worked his way forward over the final two laps before unleashing the finishing kick that would become one of the defining features of his racing.
The 25-year-old created a gap in the final straight and crossed the line about 10 meters ahead of Hocker. Then he casually stopped the clock on his watch and waved one finger in celebration at the crowd.
The victory marked another important step in Ingebrigtsen’s return from Achilles surgery in February. He admitted just a few weeks ago that he feared his season might be over, but he has since returned to competitive action, won the European title and now added a sub-13 minute victory in the 5000m.
“It’s amazing. A few weeks ago I was telling my team that the 2026 season was long gone, but then it started to get a little bit better,” Ingebrigtsen said. “There was a lot of hope and I ended up running.
The Norwegian was equally happy with his performance level after the injury layoff.
“I’ve gained a lot from the races I’ve done in the last few weeks. I’m extremely happy to have run under 13 minutes. I was worried about injury and worried about the worst and I didn’t know if I would even be able to run, especially at this level,” he said. Reuters photo
FROM ‘COWARDS’ TO A COMEBACK
The victory came just a week after Ingebrigtsen became one of the biggest talking points of the Diamond League finals in Brussels, although not for the reason he would have liked.
The Olympic champion pushed for victory in the 1500m but faded in the closing stages to finish fourth in 3:30.52. Australian Cameron Myers won the race in 3:30.14, second was Kenyan Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech and third was American Ethan Strand.
Ingebrigtsen was furious with how the race was going and criticized his rivals for sitting on the pace instead of taking charge of the race.
“They want to line up and hide tonight, so that’s it. I’m not a hider myself,” he said after the race.
The Norwegian also questioned the pace tactics that included Hocker, who finished eighth, claiming the American had influenced a change in pacemakers that left the field running slower than he wanted.
His frustration boiled over in the mixed zone as he described the race as one against “a bunch of cowards”.
“The only good competitor is Cameron (Myers), everyone else looked like losers, including me,” Ingebrigtsen said.
The comments quickly became one of the main topics of the Diamond League Finals. Ingebrigtsen later apologized to his fellow athletes for the wider criticism, while maintaining his criticism of Hocker’s racing tactics.
FOCUS SHIFTS BACK
The 5000m victory offered Ingebrigtsen a chance to shift the focus back to her performances. It also underlined how quickly his season has turned after his Achilles injury initially threatened to rule him out of the competition altogether.
The Norwegian is also entered in the 1,500m at the Ultimate Championship and is setting up a highly-anticipated meeting with Josh Kerr. It will be the first time the two arch-rivals face each other in two years.
WHAT IS THE ULTIMATE CHAMPIONSHIP?
The Ultimate Championship itself is a new addition to the athletics calendar, with World Athletics offering a record $10 million prize bank and bringing together the world’s top athletes in high-stakes arenas.
The inaugural race was also conceived as a different kind of athletic spectacle, with a field of the world’s top 16 runners and top eight throwers and jumpers replacing the traditional championship format.
The opening night in Budapest featured dramatic lighting, music and athlete performances, with World Athletics reporting a sell-out crowd of 20,557 at the Gyula Zsivotzky National Athletics Centre.
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Issued by:
Kingshuk Kusari
Published on:
12 Sep 2026 14:55 IST