Ingebrigtsen storms into indoor 1500m gold

APELDOORN, Netherlands (AFP) — Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his sixth European indoor gold as he dominated the 1500-meter run in Apeldoorn in the first step in his bid for a third consecutive double gold on the covered continental stage.

The three-time European outdoor 1500m champion, who won 5,000m gold in last year’s Paris Olympics, sped to the front of the pack a third of the way through the race.

That move by the Norwegian, still just 24 years of age, immediately strung the field out as Germany’s Robert Farken took a tumble as the athletes jostled for places.

Hitting the bell in the lead, Ingebrigtsen made it look all too easy as he cruised to his 22nd European gold medal — including indoor, outdoor and cross-country — in a winning time of three minutes and 36.56 seconds.

France’s Azeddine Habz and Portugal’s Isaac Nader claimed silver and bronze respectively.

“I’m only halfway there,” said a jubilant Ingebrigtsen, who will be back on the track for heats of the 3,000m on Saturday, with the final of that event scheduled for 1550 GMT on Sunday.

“You need to do a lot of good things, not only in the preparations, but also in the race. I decided to stay a little bit relaxed the first half, and then go past the field when the pace is usually at its slowest.”

“There was never any doubt in my mind, but there is always a game of chance. In the back of my head I know that I have a race tomorrow as well. Now I have to do the good things and prepare for that.”

Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell went 11th fastest ever when winning Olympic bronze in Paris and was a big favorite in the Netherlands.

But she was totally upstaged in the women’s 1500m by France’s Agathe Guillemot, who claimed gold in 4:07.23.

Hunter Bell froze on the final lap, eventually finishing fourth as Guillemot put in an impressive fast finish in a slow race to edge Portugal’s Salome Afonso, with Britain’s Revee Walcott-Nolan taking bronze.

“It’s incredible because I could celebrate my victory during the last 100m,” Guillemot said. “At one point, I even wanted to wave at my coach and say ‘look I am winning!’”

There was also an upset in the men’s long jump as Bulgaria’s Bozhidar Saraboyukov seized his moment in the absence of flu-hit double Olympic champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece.

The 20-year-old Bulgarian won with a clutch 8.13m leap in the final round - just one centimeter ahead of Italian Mattia Furlani’s best effort from the fifth round.

Home hopes of a third Euro indoor title for Nadine Visser in the 60m hurdles went up in smoke after she was edged into silver by Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji.

The Swiss hurdler clocked an European record of 7.67 seconds, with Visser at 0.10 second. Poland’s Pia Skrzyszowska rounded out the podium with Finland’s defending champion Reetta Hurske finishing fifth.