Source :- PERTH NOW NEWS
Norwegian ace Jakob Ingebrigtsen has pulled off a comeback for the ages to retain his 5000 metres title at the European athletics championships In Birmingham, England.
Ingebrigtsen has never lost a race at the continental championships but seemingly faced long odds after he had surgery on his left Achilles in February and only had six weeks of decent training before lining up on Monday night.
But he got past German Florian Bremm in a thrilling sprint finish to collect his seventh European gold – the most ever by a male athlete – in 13 minutes and 15.29 seconds.. Frenchman Etienne Daguinos was third.
“Coming from the lowest of lows to be European champion again means the world to me,” Ingebrigtsen said. “Not even I believed it could happen coming here. Only with 600 meters to go I knew I would win.
“I am starting to feel more like myself,” he added. “I doubted myself every day coming in to this and every minute leading up to the last lap today, but I’m always hoping to do my best. I’ve tried my best, and the last three weeks was very smooth.”
Ingebrigtsen is not racing in the 1500 metres in Birmingham. He’s won both the 1500 and 5000 at the past three European championships.
Amy Hunt of Britain got just enough separation to win the women’s 100 metres in 11 seconds, edging Poland’s Ewa Swoboda (11.02) and Belgium’s Delphine Nkansa (11.06).
