Norwegian long-distance runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen is already a budding star in the track world after winning a gold medal in the 1500 meters race at the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. He broke a world record while earning that gold medal and did so again on Friday at the Meeting de Paris athletics meet in Paris, France.
Ingebrigtsen took part in the Men’s two miles race at the event and completely dominated the competition en route to becoming the fastest man alive at that distance.
He finished the two-mile race in 7 minutes 54.10 seconds, which is amazingly four-and-a-half seconds better than the previous world-best performance held by Kenya’s Daniel Komen.
WORLD RECORD!
Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs the fastest 2 miles in history with 7:54.10. #ParisDL | 📺: @peacock pic.twitter.com/AbDPtOwkDZ
— NBC Olympics (@NBCOlympics) June 9, 2023
Many took notice of the unbelievable feat and took to social media to praise the 22-year-old runner.
Me trying to run ONE mile at 7:54.10 pic.twitter.com/goDNfbztmc
— DraftKings Sportsbook (@DKSportsbook) June 9, 2023
Perspective:
Jakob would have finished in 4th in the Ohio Division I 4×800 relay state championship race running the 3200 by himself. https://t.co/lH3SC64fYz
— Mike Cornell (@mcornell) June 9, 2023
Flashback to my heart and lungs disintegrating as I try to run an 8-minute mile for my college baseball team. https://t.co/DRZvpYVnqL
— Andrew Parks (@andrewericparks) June 9, 2023
I have been trying figure out what is the longest distance I have run at this pace at my athletic peak, and I think it is 200m, I don't think I ever got under a minute in the 400, and I was definitely not under 2:00 in the 800.
Just an insane feat this is. https://t.co/FSiLxFAx8b
— Matt Winkelman (@Matt_Winkelman) June 9, 2023
His LAST LAP was 56 seconds. Tomorrow, just for fun, warm up real good & go try to run ONE lap in 56 seconds lol. https://t.co/e4sNP5cK6i
— Jeff Davis (@22thesnowman) June 9, 2023
*casually runs a mile under 4 minutes twice in a row with 0 seconds rest in between* 🤯 https://t.co/vA1dxDiYBt
— Coach Josh Horowitz (@xccoachhorowitz) June 9, 2023
While the world record is imposing, it is perhaps even more jaw-dropping when you consider how much faster he was than anyone else in the race.
Kenya’s Ishmael Kipkurui finished second in 8:09.23, and Kuma Girma of Ethiopia third in 8:10.34. This means that Ingebrigtsen beat everyone in the competition by over 15 seconds.
With this feat, he becomes the second-ever recorded runner to finish a two-mile race in under eight minutes, sharing that distinction with the previous world-record holder.
Ingebrigtsen spoke about the performance after the race, saying he was aided by the crowd in attendance, who seemed to know something special was happening.
“The pace felt very smooth for me, coming out of the 1500m,” said Ingebrigtsen via Olympics.com. “I would say it was a good race. The public was amazing; without their help, it would have been more difficult. I was a bit surprised about the time in the end.”
[Olympics.com, NBC Olympics on Twitter] Photo Credit: Peacock
