By Citius Mag Staff
June 9, 2023
Olympic gold medalist Jakob Ingebrigtsen shattered the previous outdoor two-mile world record at the Paris Diamond League in a blistering time of 7:54.10.
Here's what you need to know:
– Ingebrigtsen took four seconds off Daniel Komen’s record of 7:58.61 from 1997.
– He is only the second person to have run under eight minutes for two miles.
– His 3000m split of 7:24.07 is the No. 3 outdoor 3,000m mark in history behind Daniel Komen and Hicham El Guerrouj.
– This is Ingebrigtsen's second world record after running 3:30.60 for the indoor 1500m in Lievin in 2022.
How He Did It
The pacers split 2:29.07 through 1000m and 4:56.95 through 2000m. Jakob went on to run 7:24 through the 3000m mark before closing out the full two-mile distance in 7:54. Ingebrigtsen was also aided by the Wavelight pacing technology that guided him. He was clocked at 55s for his final lap.
What Happens Next
Ingebrigtsen is entered in the 1500m at the Oslo Diamond League next week. The field is rumored to be loaded with talent and was teased as a possible world record attempt in front of his home crowd.
What He Said After The Race:
What did you expect?
Jakob Ingebrigtsen: "I have not done that many 3Ks, especially haven't done a two-mile before. You never know for sure or 100% what you can expect. At the same time, I think 3000m is one of my better events considering that I am an endurance-type runner moving down to the 1500m and can perform relatively well in that event. At the same time, 1500m is more demanding physically so I'm going to try to as well as I can before moving up and focusing more on the 3000m."
When you describe it as more "demanding physically", what do you mean by that?
"I think it's more difficult for a 35-year-old to do a fast 1500m than a 3000m. So I'm going to do as well as I can for as long as I can in my favorite event, which is the 1500m. I think that is more of a thing that I really need to focus on compared to the 3000m. Going 7:20 is difficult and demands a lot of speed but it's not the same as going 3:27 or 3:26."
How do you see that 1500m world record of 3:26?
"I see it as one of the biggest challenges that I am going to face during my running career. I say this coming from my background in training. Obviously, I've done a lot of mileage and a lot of threshold growing up. I've always kept running and working on that efficiency and building that engine. Seeing the 10K, the 5K, the steeplechase and the half marathon and all the other records (that have fallen). It's not the same as looking at the mile and 1500m...I'm not saying the other world records are easier but for me, considering what I'm doing and how I got here, they fit me a lot better than the 1500m."
What kind of day or form do you need to chase that 1500m world record?
"I don't think I need any special day or whatever. I need to improve. Obviously, I've improved a lot in the last couple of years. I think that's what's so good about this race. It's brutally honest and you get the facts on paper of where you're at and how fast you can go mostly based off the strength work that you've done. I think it's a good thing moving forward and racing a lot of 800s. At the same time, I still need to improve my own personal best before thinking about the world record. This is just a consequence of what I've been doing and not necessarily trying to perform well in the 3000m. I'm mainly focusing on the 1500m. At the same time, I'm better in these sorts of races."
I saw on Twitter that you did a workout 6x 800m (2:00, 2:00, 1:55, 1:55, 1:49.5, 1:49.5 splits). Was that true?
"Yes, but that workout doesn't matter. What matters is what I've done before that. I also had a session two days before and a session a couple of days after. A lot of people see one session and it's not impossible for everybody to have a good session. The difficult task is to have a good program and have every session worth something going into a good race."
When you do a session like that, does that surprise you? Does it give you more confidence as to where your fitness is at?
"No, because if I wanted to go quicker, I could've gone quicker. There's no point in going quick because it's not specific. I started at 3000m pace and then went down to a little faster than 1500m pace, obviously. At the same time, I set up the session with my brothers and I need to know what I'm going to get out of the session. It's not just a good session. You need to know what you need. For that specific session, I needed to dig a little bit deeper than just 3000m because I did that a couple of days earlier and it wasn't tough enough so I needed to dig a little bit of a hole to have a bit of a boost going into this race. Everything matters and you need to paint a big picture."
Citius Mag Staff
