Norwegian stud shocks brothers

Jakob Ingebrigtsen BERLIN, Germany — Norwegian track prodigy Jakob Ingebrigtsen upstaged his two older brothers to claim a memorable gold in the European 1500-meter in Berlin on Friday aged just 17.

The middle of the Ingebrigtsen trio, Filip, had gone into the race at a packed Olympic Stadium as favorite, the defending champion and current world bronze medalist.

The eldest, Henrik, had major championship experience, with a medal of each color won in the last three European champs.

But that counted for nothing as Jakob, who turns 18 next month and is coached like his siblings by father Gjert, lived up to his billing as one to watch.

The trio insisted pre-race that family tactics would not be used, but they automatically stuck together at the back of the field early on.

Jakob then smoothly led his brothers to the head of the pack with two laps to go.

When you thought one of his more experienced siblings might have then taken up the front running, the teenager surprised everyone by sticking to his inside line, kicking and just holding on through to the line.

“We’re pretty much as good as each other,” said the modest Jakob, who won in 3min 38.10 seconds.

Poland’s Marcin Lewandowski claimed silver at four-hundredths while Briton Jake Wightman nipped in front of Henrik Ingebrigtsen for bronze, Filip finishing 12th.

AFPAgence France-Presse is an international news agency headquartered in Paris, France. Founded in 1835, AFP is the third largest news agency in the world, after the Associated Press and Reuters.