Dina, Ingebrigtsen seal double golds at Euro
berlin — Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Norway’s new sporting sensation, completed a unique European Championships double when he won the 5,000 metres just 24 hours after taking 1,500m gold as the youngest track champion in the history of the event at just 17.
Yet the teenage phenomenon and his brother Henrik, who won silver behind him, were not the only athletes writing outlandish tales at the 84-year-old championships.
Dina Asher-Smith conclusively ended the reign of Dafne Schippers as Europe’s sprint queen when she raced to victory in the 200 metres in the Olympic Stadium to complete her own 100m/200m golden double.
Sandra Perkovic, Croatia’s queen of the discus, then became the first athlete ever to win five successive European titles in the same event, pulling out a fifth round winner of 67.62 metres to stop what would have been a German sweep of the medals.
Poland savoured an amazing three-gold night with Adam Kszczot becoming the first man to win three 800m titles while Justyna Swiety-Ersetic won a dramatic 400m before anchoring her team to gold in the 4x400m relay less than two hours later. Anything the Ingebrigtsens can do, Belgium’s Borlee brothers Dylan, Jonathan and Kevin like to think they can do better. Once again, they all featured in the men’s 4x400 team that struck gold, just as they had in Amsterdam two years before.
Younger brother Dylan, 25, ran the opening leg, while third leg runner Jonathan passed the baton to his 30-year-old twin Kevin, who delivered an astonishing 43.91sec leg to tear past Spain’s anchor man and turn silver into gold.
Ingebrigtsen was again the star of the show, though, using the searing pace that had helped him win the 1500 metres on Friday to race away from the field in a modestpaced race with a scintillating last lap of 54.05 seconds. —