Jakob Ingebrigtsen Entered In Two Events At IAAF U20 Champs


Jakob Ingebrigtsen running at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California, at the beginning of May. 

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Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the 17-year-old Norwegian distance sensation, is entered to run in both the 1500m and 5K at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere, Finland, on July 10-15.

Ingebrigtsen is not only one of the top U20 distance athletes in the world, but also one of the top overall distance athletes regardless of age. He's proven that twice this year. The first time was at the beginning of May at the Payton Jordan Invitational in Palo Alto, California. He took down a field which included US Army's Paul Chelimo (3:40.16), Nike Oregon Project's Eric Jenkins (3:40.28), Hoka One One's Colby Alexander (3:40.42), and Nike's Craig Engels (3:40.45). The 17-year-old ran 3:39.06 to earn the win. 

His other big run of the year came in Eugene, Oregon, on May 26, when he ran 3:52.28 to place fourth in the Bowerman Mile at the Pre Classic. In that race, he beat out both the top American runners in Clayton Murphy (3:53.40)and Matthew Centrowitz (3:53.61)

Ingebrigtsen's PR in the mile is his 3:52.28 from the Bowerman Mile race, but he's also run 3:36.06 for 1500m which he did in Oslo, Norway, on June 7 this year. He's yet to run a 5K this season but holds a personal best time in the event of 13:35.84 which is a 16- and 17-year-old age group world record. He ran that time in Sandnes Norway on August 25, 2017.  

In the 1500m Ingebrigtsen is seeded fourth while his time from 2017 in the 5K has him seeded sixth. Seeded just ahead of him in the 1500m are Samuel Tefera from Ethiopia whose PR is 3:31.63 and Justus Soget and George Meitamei Manangoi from Kenya who have run personal bests of 3:32.97 and 3:35.53, respectively. 

In 2016 at the IAAF U20 meet in Bydgoszcz, Poland, Ingebrigtsen finished ninth in the finals of the 1500m running 3:51.09, but ran a 3:46.53 in the prelims. Not to mention he holds 16 different world age group records in various events from the 1500m to the 3000m steeplechase.

He will be a big name to watch next week in Finland. 

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