Jakob Ingebrigtsen shattered one of the longest standing track world records at the Silesian Stadium on Sunday as he clocked a staggering 7:17.55 for the 3000m, taking more than three seconds off the mark of 7:20.67 set by Kenya’s Daniel Komen in 1996.
It was a huge performance at the 12th Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season for the 23-year-old Norwegian who lost his Olympic 1500m title in Paris earlier this month but won gold in the 5000m.
On the eve of competition Ingebrigtsen had commented: “I’m excited about the race. The 3000m is a very good distance for me, and everything is lined up for something big.”
This was big. Already third on the world all-time list with the 7:23.63 he ran in Eugene last year, he knew there was a big gap even to the second best performance of 7:23.09, set by Morocco’s Hicham El Guerrouj in 1999.
But on this day Ingebrigtsen became a history man, moving clear of the field over the final lap after passing the bell with the green wavelight world record indicators scattering behind him as if they had fallen out of his pockets.
Ethiopia’s Berihu Aregawi, the Olympic 10,000m silver medallist, produced the third best performance of all time as he finished second in 7:21.28.
Canada’s world 800m champion Marco Arop clocked 1:41.87 to beat Kenya’s Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi (1:43.23) and Bryce Hoppel of the United States (1:43.32) in the men’s 800m.
Botswana’s Olympic champion Letsile Tebogo clocked a meeting record of 19.83 to win the men’s 200m ahead of Alexander Ogando of the Dominican Republic, second in a national record of 19.86, and Olympic silver medallist Kenny Bednarek of the United States, third in 20.00.
Morocco’s Olympic steeplechase champion Soufiane El Bakkali won the men’s 3000m steeplechase ahead of Amos Serum – both athletes timed at 8:04.29, while Samuel Firewu was third in a personal best of 8:04.34.
Jo-Ane Van Dyk of South Africa finished second with 62.81m in the women’s javelin throw behind Adriana Vilagos of Serbia (65.60m, NR).
Tia Clayton of Jamaica narrowly edged out Ivory Coast’s Marie-Josee Ta-Lou Smith in the women’s 100m – both timed at 10.83 seconds.
