Jakob Ingebrigtsen takes 1500m, Sifan Hassan wins second gold in Tokyo
Tokyo Olympic Games athletics day 10:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the first Olympic gold medal of his career in the men’s 1500m setting the Olympic and European record with 3:28.32. The 20-year-old Norwegian star added the Olympic gold medal to the two European outdoor titles in the 1500 and 5000m and three European indoor titles.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen: “This is what you want as a professional runner. I have been able to do it on my 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”.
World seasonal leader Timothy Cheruyot had to settle with silver medal with 3:29.01. Just one month ago Cheruiyot won the 1500m in the Monaco Wanda Diamond League meeting in 3:28.28.
Timothy Cheruiyot: “Jakob is a good racer. He is a good athlete, a disciplined athlete. I am happy about him. In the last 100 metres, I was feeling tired. I was feeling my right harmstring, so I didn’t manage to run fast to the finish line”.
Josh Kerr from Great Britain (world finalist in 2019) finished just four hundredth of a second behind Cheruiyot winning the first medal for Great Britain in the 1500m since Peter Elliot’s silver in 1988. With his 3:29.05 clocking Kerr has moved up to second in the British all-time list behind Mo Farah.
Josh Kerr: “It’s pretty surreal. It’s something you dream about for so long. It’s surreal when are finally living that moment that you have dreamed about for so long. It hasn’t sunk in yet”
Abel Kipsang broke the 3:30 barrier for the first time in his career to finish fourth in 3:29.56 ahead of Adel Mechaal from Spain (3:30.77 PB), Cole Hocker from the USA (3:31.40 PB), Australian reocrd holder Stewart McSweyn (3:31.91) and Michal Rozmys (3:32.67)
Women’s 10000 metres:
Sifan Hassan from the Netherlands won the 10000 metres in 29:55.32 to claim her second gold and her third medal at this edition of the Olympic Games. The Dutch star had been seeking three Olympic gold medals in the 1500m, 5000m and 10000m, but she missed out on this feat when she finished third in the 1500m.
Hassan ran behind the leaders and increased her pace with 3000 metres to go. On the final bend Hassan broke away from world record holder Letesenbet Gidey, who faded into third place, as Kalkidan Gezahegne from Barhein overtook the Ethiopian runner to claim the silver medal in 29:56.18 ahead of Gidey, who crossed the finish line in 30:01.72. Two-time world champion Hellen Obiri crossed the finish-line fourth in a PB of 30:24.27. Former 800m runner Francine Nyonsaba improved her PB to 30:41,93 beating Irene Cheptai (30:44.00), Ririka Hironaka (31:00.07), Konstanze Klosterhalfen (31:01.97) and Eilish McColgan (31:04.68).
Hassan adds the three Olympic medals to the world 1500m and 10000m titles she won in Doha 2019.
Sifan Hassan: “I am so happy and I cried during the medal ceremony. I actually realised that I am done. The Games are over. It’s not about how strong I am but how strong are the ladies I challenge”
Earlier this year Hassan set the world record in the 10000m with 29:06.82 in Hengelo, but Gidey ran even faster clocking 29:01.03 on the same Dutch track.
Women’s high jump:
Three-time world outdoor and indoor champion Mariya Lasitskene completed her collection of medals at global events by winning her first Olympic gold medal with 2.04m.
Lasitskene took the first place when she cleared 2.02m on her first attempt.
Mariya Lasitskene: “I don’t remember anything at all. There is a fog on my mind. You are making mistakes, you are telling yourself you don’t have the right to be here. Then you go on and continue jumping. You tell yourself: ‘I won’t give it up, I don’t want to, I can, I must”
Nicola McDermott from Australia claimed the silver medal improving her Oceanian record to 2.02m. The Australian jumper has become the first Australian high jumper to win a medal in this event since Michele Brown in Tokyo in 1964.
Nicola McDermott: “To see Mariya get an Olympic gold medal after all these years, I just feel so honoured to be in the same competition. I started today’s warm-up jumps and I thought: ‘I am going to get a PB today. I have just fun with all these women that I am inspired by. I don’t think this is really going to hit until I get back to my room”.
Ukrainian 19-year-old jumper Yaroslava Mahuchik won the bronze medal with 2.00m Mahuchik, who won the world silver medal with 2.04m in Doha 2019, has become the youngest Olympic medallist in the high jump since Urszula Kielan from Brazil won the bronze medal in Rome in 1960 at the age of 19.
Iryna Gerashchenko took fourth place with 1.98m. Eleanor Petterson from Australia finished fifth with 1.96m on countback over Vashti Cunningham.
Women’s 4x400 relay final:
The dream team formed by Sydney McLaughlin, Allyson Felix, Dalilah Muhammad and Athing Mu won a seventh consecutive Olympic gold medal. The US team won by more than four seconds in 3:16.85 over Poland, who set a national record with 3:20.53. Jamaica won the bronze medal in 3:21.24, earning the sixth consecutive Olympic medal. Canada finished fouth in 3:21.84, missing the national record by 0.63. The US team set the fastest time in the world in 28 years.
Allyson Felix claimed a career 11th Olympic medal in her fifth and final appearance at this event, the first as a mother. She has collected seven gold medals, three silvers and one bronze, including four titles with the 4x400 relay. She has equalled Al Oerter (discus throw) and Carl Lewis (long jump) with four Olympic gold medals in the same event. Seventeen years ago she won the silver medal in the 200m in Athens 2004 in her first debut at the Olympic Games.
Mclaughlin won her second gold medal a few days after breaking the world record with 51.46 in the 400m hurdles. Mu also claimed her second Olympic title after her triumph in the 800m in 1:55.21 in her debut at this event.
The four stars clocked the following splits: McLaughlin 50.21, Felix 49.38, Muhammad 49.94 and Mu 48.32.
Final men’s 4x400 relay:
Michael Cherry, Michael Norman, Bryce Deadmon and Raj Benjamin won the Olympic 4x400 relay gold medal for the USA setting the fourth fastest time in history with 2:55.70.
Botswana’s 35-year-old Isaac Makwala clocked an impressive 43.89 (the second sub-44 first leg in history). Michael Norman overhauled Botswana’s Baboloki Thebe in the second leg to give the USA the lead with his 44.03 leg.
The second leg produced three sub-44 seconds runs by Poland’s Karol Zalewski (43.68), Netherlands’ Terrence Agard (43.76) and Jamaica’s Christopher Taylor (43.93).
Bryce Deadmon increased the US lead on the third leg before world and Olympic 400m hurdles silver medallist Raj Benjamin clocked 43.40 in the final leg to cross the finish-line in 2:55.70, the fastest time in the world since 2008.
Michael Norman: “All the sacrifices we put in 2019, 2020 and 2021 have finally paid off”
Raj Benjamin: “It’s been a long championship and a very emotional one for all of us here in all honesty.
Ramsey Angela anchored the Netherlands to silver medal with a national record of 2:57.18. Botswana won the bronze medal breaking the national record with 2:57.27. Botswana and the Netherlands won their first 4x400 Olympic medals. Belgium featuring brothers Kevin and Dylan Borlée and 2018 world under 20 champion Jonathan Sacoor finished fourth in a national record beating Poland (2:58.46) and Jamaica (2:58.76). Italy featuring 400m hurdles finalist Davide Re, Edoardo Scotti, Vladimir Aceti, Alessandro Sibilio broke the national record for the second time at these Olympic Games with 2:58.81.
Men’s Javelin throw final:
Neeraj Chopra became the first Indian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics. Chopra started the competition with 87.03m in the opening round and improved to 87.58m in the second attempt. Julian Weber moved into second with 85.30m. Johannes Vetter opened with 82.52m, but he recorded two fouls. The German star was ranked ninth and did not advance to the final three round.
Former world champion Viteslav Vesely from Czech Republic recorded his best throw since 2015 to move into second place with 85.44m. Former world silver medallist Jakub Vadlejch, also from Czech Republic, moved into silver medal position with 86.67m ahead of Weber.
Neeraj Chopra: “This feels awesome. My training leading into this competition was good. We were very ready for the Olympics. After the qualifying round, I felt very good. I feel a bit bad about Vetter, he’s a great thrower. I also had to focus on my throws. I can’t explain it, it’s an awesome feeling”.
Women’s marathon:
Two-time world half marathon champion Peres Jepchirchir from Kenya broke away from her compatriot Brigid Kosgei in the 40km en route to winning the Olympic title in 2:27:30 on a very hot day at the Odori Park in Sapporo.
World record holder Brigid Kosgei finished runner-up in 2:27:36 to secure the first Kenyan double in the history of the women’s marathon at the Olympic Games.
The large pack went through at 10 km in 36:16 and 15 km in 54:47, at a 2:32 pace. Eleven runners remained in the leading group: Jepchirchir, Kosgei, Ruth Chepngetich, Roza Dereje, Lonah Salpeter, Molly Seidel and Sally Kipyego from the USA, Mao Ichiyama from Japan, Eunice Chumba from Barhein and Helalia Johannes from Namibia.
Kipyego dropped back, leaving 10 runners at the front at 25 km. Eight runners remained in the lead after Chepngetich was dropped. They increased their pace, on target for a 2:29 final time at 30 km.
The leading group was whittled down to five runners at 33 km: Seidel, Salpeter, Kosgei, Chumba and Jepchirchir.
Chumba was the next to drop back at 36 km. Jepchirchir and Kosgei remained alone at the front. The two Kenyan stars bulit a six-second gap on Seidel at 40 km. Jepchirchir pulled away from Kosgei with one km to go.
Peres Jepchirchir: “I pushed on the pace and when I opened the gap it was like: ‘Wow, I am going to make it. I am going to win.’ It was so hot. It was not easy. I am just thankful I managed to cope with that weather”.
Molly Seidel claimed a surprising bronze medal in 2:27:46 in just her third marathon. The US runner finished second at the US Trials.
Molly Seidel: “I try not to have too many expectations. It is just to go out, stuck your nose where it doesn’t belong and try and make some people angry. My goal today was just to go in and for people to think: who the hell in the girl ?”.
Roza Dereje from Ethiopia finished fourth in 2:28:23 ahead of Olga Mazuronak (2:29:06) and Melat Kejeta (2:19:16).
