Jakob Ingebrigtsen Dives For The Win

It wasn’t easy, but 2024 Jakob Ingebrigtsen (3:29.74) got in the win column. Ingebrigtsen returned to his normal tactics of leading the race once the pacers dropped off, but never opened up a commanding gap on his competitors. That led to an epic finish against an old rival.

Before there was Jakob vs. Josh, Timothy Cheruiyot (3:29.77) was Ingebrigtsen’s biggest rival on the track, and for a while it was generous to Jakob to call them rivals. Up until Ingebrigtsen took home Olympic gold in Tokyo, Cheruiyot was undefeated against the young Norwegian (10-0). The 2019 World Champion actually still holds the advantage in their all-time head-to-head record after the loss in Oslo (11-8). With the win, Ingebrigtsen avoided losing back-to-back races for the first time since a pair of Diamond League 1500m races in August of 2020, both of which came at the hands of Cheruiyot.

The dive gives Ingebrigtsen the first sub-3:30 1500m clocking in the world this year, while Cheruiyot’s runner-up finish was his fastest since this meet last year. It was the Kenyan’s second close loss on the Diamond League circuit this year, leaving him still looking for his first win since the 2021 Diamond League Final. Cheruiyot looks much more impressive early this season than he did last year when he shockingly failed to make the World final, but is still looking for his first win in any 1500m race since the Kenyan Trials for Budapest last July.

Back in eighth, Pietro Arese (3:32.13) set an Italian record and likely secured a trip to Paris with the Olympic standard. Ingebrigtsen’s fellow Norwegian Narve Nordås (3:34.86) struggled to a 13th place finish. Only Australia’s Stewy McSweyn (14th, 3:38.22) was off the pack as he may look to shift his focus to the 5000m for Paris.

Dos Santos Takes Down Warholm

Both of Norway’s biggest stars stumbled at the end of their races, but unlike Ingebrigtsen who dove for the win, Karsten Warholm (46.70) clipped the final barrier in the men’s 400m hurdles and that was all Alison Dos Santos (46.63) needed to steal the win. In the first big 400m hurdles matchup of the year, Dos Santos not only took down Warholm but he also eked under Rai Benjamin’s world lead by .01 seconds, giving him temporary top dog status in the event.

This was just Dos Santos’ second ever win over Warholm in eleven tries, with the other victory coming when the Brazilian notably won World gold in 2022. That title was sandwiched between Olympic gold by Warholm in 2021, and the Norwegian’s third World title in 2023.

This may have been the perfect appetizer to a matchup between the three titans of the event in Paris, as now “The Viking” will have a chip on his shoulder, which may be just the thing that allows him to best his own world record time from Tokyo.

On the women’s side, Jamaica’s Rushell Clayton continued her undefeated season, winning in 54.02. Unlike the men, who have been delivering season openers resembling knockout punches, the women’s 400m hurdles has been an event that takes a while to get going the past few years. In 2022, by the end of May, there were only two sub-54 clockings worldwide. By the end of the season there were 47. Last year, even without Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone contesting the event, there were 52 sub-54 performances, only six of them coming before the start of June.

Through two months of the season in 2024, we have again have six sub-54 times, and with McLaughlin-Levrone making her return on Friday night, and 2023 World champion Femke Bol (who opens her season in Stockholm on Sunday) at the top of her game, we could be on track for another banner year in the event.

Hagos Gebrhiwet Wins Historic 5000m

12:36.73.

Take a moment to digest that time. That’s what 30-year-old Hagos Gebrhiwet of Ethiopia just ran for the second fastest 5000m in history. If the time doesn’t do it for you, consider that Gebrhiwet just broke the national record of Kenenisa Bekele, who is considered by many as the greatest distance runner of all time. Bekele’s mark was due to turn 20 years old tomorrow, and stood as the world record for over 16 years.

Gebrhiwet first broke 13:00 as an 18-year-old in 2012 (setting a world junior record of 12:47.53 that has only been topped by Selemon Barega since), and has done so in eight of the past 13 years. The newly signed ASICS runner has always had fast times – this was the sixth sub-12:50 clocking of his career, tied with Bekele for the most ever – but only got his first global gold last year winning the 5k at the World Road Running Championships. Gebrhiwet, who is undefeated on the year, has a silver medal and two bronzes on the track, but all of those were between 2013-2016. Now the fastest man in the world this year, he’ll have a shot to finally earn gold on the biggest stage this summer in Paris

Behind Gebrhiwet, the race could easily be called the deepest 5000m in history with 13 men breaking 13:00, tying a record set at last year’s Florence Diamond League. 12 of those men ran the fastest time of their career (the only one who didn’t was world record holder Joshua Cheptegei who ran 12:51.94 for ninth), and six of them set national records. Those national records included American-based runners in Luis Grijalva (6th, 12:50.58) who bettered his own Guatemalan record and Adriaan Wildschutt (13th, 12:56.67) who lowered his own South African mark.

Someone who didn’t set a national record was last year’s winner Yomif Kejelcha (2nd, 12:38.85) of Ethiopia, who led the majority of the race after moving ahead of the pacers but had no response to Gebrhiwet’s 54.99 final lap. Speaking of pacers, Ethiopian Addisu Yihune (5th, 12:49.65) was listed as one, but the 21-year-old stayed in the race after Kejelcha passed him, and ran under 13:00 for the first time in his career. And he ran way under, you love to see it.

In the longest women’s race of the day, Australian Georgia Griffith (8:24.20) set an Oceanian record in the 3000m, breaking Jessica Hull’s indoor (8:24.39) and outdoor (8:31.81) marks. Hull finished third in the race (8:25.82). Griffith finished second to Hull at their national championships 1500m back in April. She is one of 5 Aussie women with the Olympic standard in the 1500m, meaning this result, in addition to her runner-up finish at nationals, will go a long way toward selection from her national federation. Griffith was a finalist in the 1500m at the 2022 World Championships, but missed the meet last year.

Men’s 400m Is Wide Open, The Women’s 400m Is Not

In the men’s 400m, Brit Matthew Hudson-Smith improved upon his own European record (44.07). Hudson-Smith won bronze at the World championships in 2022, and upgraded to silver in 2023, will he be able to take the next step to gold this summer? His time on Thursday was the second fastest time of the year behind only indoor “world record” holder Christopher Morales-Williams of Canada.

Hudson-Smith has certainly thrown his name into the bucket of contenders for Paris, but it is a crowded one that includes Morales-Williams, reigning Olympic champ Steven Gardiner, World Indoor champ Alexander Doom, not to mention the return of 2022 World Michael Norman, and the legends Kirani James and Wayde Van Niekerk. And due to the nature of the event, there is just as good of a chance that someone I didn’t even mention has gold around their neck come August.