Ingebrigtsen avoids heat’s mayhem to make 5,000m final

Paris — A little over 14 hours after being run out of the medals in the 1,500m final, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen was back on the Olympic track on Wednesday in the heats of the 5,000m, where he looked strong as the fastest qualifier.

The defending champion over 1,500m finished fourth in a race won by long-shot American Cole Hocker and, understandably, did the minimum necessary on Wednesday to advance to Saturday’s final.

After going out hard from the start on Tuesday night, he sat comfortably at the back of a 20-man field in the 5,000m before easing to the front two laps out and leading it home in 13 min 51.59 sec.

The Norwegian bounced back from defeat in the last two world championship 1,500m finals to win the 5,000 and would obviously love to make that a hat-trick.

Ingebrigtsen has been outspoken in his criticism of Briton Josh Kerr, who took silver in the 1,500, but was magnanimous in defeat, writing on his Instagram page: “Well, I guess he [Kerr] did show up after all. Cole Hocker, [bronze medallist] Yared Nuguse and Josh Kerr outsmarted me. They were ‘the best guys’ when it really mattered. And I want to congratulate them all on a great performance.”

There was great support from the crowd as home favourites Hugo Hay and Jimmy Gressier made the early running in a slow and eventually chaotic first heat of the 5,000m.

The pedestrian pace meant that the entire 21-man field was together heading into the final lap, with the inevitable clashes, leading to four competitors falling in the mayhem on the final straight.

Narve Gilje Nordas, who finished seventh in the 1,500m final, kept clear of it by hitting the front and lead the race home in a “fast-walk” 14:08.16, ensuring there will be two Norwegians in the final.

He even had time to fist-bump second-placed finisher Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia, who became the second-fastest man ever over the distance earlier this year, before they crossed the line.

Grant Fisher, still on a high from his bronze in the 10,000, will look to extend the US’s impressive middle and long-distance showing in Paris after also progressing.

Canada’s Tokyo silver medallist Mohammed Ahmed did not make it after falling earlier in the first heat, but the four who went down at the end of it — Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu, George Mills, Mike Foppen and Thierry Ndikumwenayo — were all added to the final line-up after appeals.

Reuters