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By The Numbers: Jakob Ingebrigtsen Smashes Daniel Komen’s 3000m World Record In 7:17.55

By Chris Chavez

August 26, 2024

Jakob Ingebrigtsen destroyed the 3000m world record in 7:17.55 to win the Silesia Diamond League on Sunday. The previous record of 7:20.67 was set by Daniel Komen in 1996.

Here’s what you need to know:

– 28 years | How long Komen’s world record stood for. Despite the 3000m not being contested at global championships, World Athletics recognizes it as a world record race and not a world best so it was the oldest track record in the history books.

– 3 | This is Ingebrigtsen’s third world record. He also holds the world record at 2000m (4:43.13) and two miles (7:54.10).

– 6.08 seconds | Amount of time Ingebrigtrsen took off his previous personal best. He entered Sunday’s race with a personal best of 7:23.63 from his victory in last year’s Diamond League final in Eugene.

– 58.34 seconds per lap | The average pace per lap in Ingebrigtsen’s world record-setting run.

– 55.45 seconds | Ingebrigtsen’s last lap in his 3000m world record. Going into the bell lap, all he needed was a 58.5 to break the world record but Ingebrigtsen accelerated and put the Wavelights behind him.

– 4:49 | Ingebrigtsen’s split for his final 2000m. For context, only 8 men in history have run faster than 4:49 for 2000m. The American record for 2000m is 4:52.44 by Jim Spivey in 1987

– 1320 points | The total score for Ingebrigtsen’s world record, according to the World Athletics scoring table. Only Kelvin Kiptum’s 2:00:35 marathon world record, which scored 1322 points, is worth more of all the distance world records.

What he said after the race:

Ingebrigtsen: “The toughest part is definitely that you are working in the middle of the race. Coming from the 1500m, the pace feels kind of easy the first couple of laps. But when you reach three or four laps, you have to start working because you’re not halfway. So it's a long way to go. From there, you need to find a good rhythm and start working on your breathing and try to run as easy as possible. It’s a lot of hard work to the finish line, so I had to ramp up the pace a little bit the last 800 to be able to challenge the world record. I ran past the light at some point, so I never knew where I was exactly. So of course in the last lap, I figured that I was going to struggle and that the light was going to catch up to me.

Crossing the finish line and seeing my time was a big feeling of relief. I’m very happy to be able to perform at that level.”

World Record Hunting

Ingebrigtsen wrote on Instagram: “Making history. What it’s all about! Three down, seven to go! What’s next?”

This means, he still needs to take on the 1500m (3:26.00), Mile (3:43.13), 5000m (12:35.36), 10,000m (26:11.00)), 3000m steeplechase (7:52.11), half marathon (57:31) and marathon (2:00.35) to go.

What’s next?

– Ingebrigtsen will race the 1500m against Olympic medalists Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse on Sept. 5th.

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Chris Chavez

Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.