Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men's 5000m at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship in Budapest, taking the title in 12:59.24 on a cool, breezy opening night. He became the first man ever crowned Ultimate champion over the distance.
Buried in fifth, then gone in the final 100m
The early pace was steady but honest, the first kilometre passing in 2:39.77 and 3000m in 7:58.94. The gears shifted late, with Ethiopia's Biniam Mehary leading through 4000m and Australia's Ky Robinson pushing to the front before Parker Wolfe seized the lead at the bell.
At that point Ingebrigtsen sat buried in fifth, glancing back for Cole Hocker on the back straight. Still only fourth with 200m to run, he shifted wide off the turn and unleashed a 12.60-second last 100m, leaving the pack trailing as Hocker held on for second in 13:00.05.
An eighth 5000m title, from Olympic to Ultimate
The margin was slim across the line: the top seven finished within 1.16 seconds of each other. The victory added the Ultimate crown to the Norwegian's one Olympic, two world and four European 5000m titles.
It also marked only the second sub-13-minute run of his career, and a season best. The win came a month after his fourth successive European 5000m gold in Birmingham, his first race back following achilles surgery.
"I haven't run too many 5000m races this year, or too many races at all, so I was a bit nervous," Ingebrigtsen told reporters afterwards. "Being injured, I was fearing the worst outcome and did not know if I would be able to run at all, especially at this level. This is amazing, I am extremely happy."
He now turns to the 1500m on Sunday, where Hocker and 2023 world champion Josh Kerr wait.
