Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the Olympic 1,500m winner, set the world indoor mark for the race on Thursday night, in another display of speed and strength that suggests his Tokyo triumph was just the beginning.
The Norwegian cut nearly a full second off the previous record set by Ethiopian Samuel Tefera, recording 3 minutes 30.60 seconds at the World Athletics Indoor Tour Gold meet in Lievin, France.
The 21-year-old stayed close to his pacemakers throughout the first half of the race before bursting ahead of everyone but Tefera, who hung on until 300 meters from the finish.
Ingebrigtsen completed the 200m track’s final lap in 27.57 seconds, finishing more than three seconds ahead of Tefera.
“This is always a fast race and it’s a really nice arena,” Ingebrigtsen said.
“I like to finish strong; I think it’s nice for the crowd but it’s also nice for me to speed up going into the finish.”
