Ingebrigtsen upsets Cheruiyot for gold

TOKYO: Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won gold in the Olympic men’s 1,500 metres final on Saturday, breaking the Games record to upset world champion Timothy Cheruiyot of Kenya who took silver. Josh Kerr of Britain ran a personal best to claim bronze.

Ingebrigtsen was the first European winner of the event since Spain’s Fermin Cacho in Barcelona in 1992. The Norwegian started fast and took the lead before Cheruiyot overtook him and dictated the pace for the majority of the race as Ingebrigtsen tucked in behind.

The 20-year Norwegian sped past Cheruiyot on the last lap, however, to clock a blistering 3:28.32 and claim the gold medal. The previous mark of 3:31.65 was set by Kenya’s Abel Kipsang here during the semi-finals on Thursday. Kipsang finished fourth in the final. “I’ve been able to do it (win gold) first try and I feel like I am just getting started. But at the same time, I have been dreaming of this for my whole life. It’s great,” Ingebrigtsen said.

Crowds in Sandnes, Ingebrigtsen’s home town on Norway’s west coast, gathered outside the stadium where he has run thousands of laps since he was a boy, cheering and screaming with joy. His brother Henrik, a fellow athlete, told local TV that Ingebrigtsen had run a perfect race. “The way he did it was stunning. He took control from the start,” he said.

Cheruiyot, the 2019 world champion and this year’s world leader, could not respond to Ingebrigtsen’s late move, settling for silver and his first Olympic medal in what has been a challenging road to Tokyo for the Kenyan.

The 25-year-old missed the cut to compete in the Games after finishing fourth in the Kenyan trials and only made the team after one of the qualified runners was dropped for not meeting World Athletics antidoping testing requirements.

Cheruiyot said he was pleased about the result, although he struggled near the end. “My performance was good, well controlled. We ran good times in an Olympics. And I’m happy about the results of the day,” he said. “In the last 100 metres, I was feeling tired. I was feeling my right hamstring so I didn’t manage to run to the finish line fast.”

He congratulated the victor Ingebrigtsen. “This is the first time Jakob beat me—in a big event, at the Olympics. I know he was well prepared and I’m happy for him,” he said.

Edinburgh-born Kerr delivered Britain’s first men’s 1,500m Olympic medal in 33 years, shaving almost three seconds off his personal best.

Lasitskene soars to women’s high jump gold

Russian Mariya Lasitskene added Olympic gold to her three world titles, winning the women’s high jump at the Tokyo Games with a leap of 2.04 metres on Saturday.

Australia’s Nicola McDermott won silver with 2.02m and Ukrainian Yaroslava Mahuchikh claimed the bronze with 2m.

Jepchirchir crowned marathon queen

Kenya’s Peres Jepchirchir won the Olympic women’s marathon in Sapporo on Saturday, claiming the country’s second consecutive gold medal in the event.

Fellow Kenyan Brigid Kosgei took silver and Molly Seidel of the United States took bronze.