Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway won his fourth straight 5,000-meter gold at the European championships in Birmingham on Monday. He had not raced since undergoing surgery earlier this year to remove scar tissue from the protective sheath around his left Achilles tendon.
In the final stretch, with less than 100 meters remaining, Ingebrigtsen was third before sprinting ahead. He overtook Florian Bremm of Germany in the last 50 meters to finish first in 13 minutes and 15.29 seconds. Bremm took silver, followed by Etienne Daguinos of France.
Ingebrigtsen skipped the 1,500-meter event but has won both the 1,500 and 5,000 at the past three European championships. His Achilles issue appeared to impact his performance at last year’s world championships in Tokyo, where he didn’t advance far in the 1,500 and finished tenth in the 5,000 final.
Meanwhile, Netherlands athlete Jessica Schilder won her third consecutive shot put gold with a throw of 20.73 meters. Her teammate Jorinde van Klinken claimed silver (19.64 meters), and Germany’s Yemisi Mabry took bronze (19.50 meters).
Schilder, the reigning world champion, is the only woman this decade to surpass 21 meters, achieving 21.09 at the Shanghai Diamond League in May. She also won gold at the 2024 European Championships in Rome and the 2022 event in Munich.