ISTANBUL:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen cruised to the 3,000m gold at the European Indoor Championships on Sunday to complete a 1500m/3,000m distance double for the second time at these championships.
Ingebrigtsen, the Olympic 1500m champion, was never in danger in Istanbul and won in a Norwegian national record of 7min 40.32sec having taken the 1500m title on Friday.
Adel Mechaal of Spain took silver in 7:41.75 and Elzan Bibic of Serbia claimed bronze in 7:44.03.
Ingebrigtsen repeated his feat of two years ago when the championships were held in Torun, Poland.
“It was a feeling like I raced myself today,” he said.
Britain’s Keely Hodgkinson reigned supreme in the women’s 800m, as the Olympic silver medallist won easily in 1:58.66 to retain the title she won two years ago.
Anita Horvat took the silver medal for Slovenia nearly two seconds further back and France’s Agnes Raharolahy collected the bronze.
Hodgkinson dedicated the victory to her former coach Joseph Galvin, who died this week.
“This one is definitely for him,” she said, holding up a flag bearing his name.
Hodgkinson’s impressive performances indoors this winter will give her encouragement as she turns her sights to the outdoor season and tries to get the better of American Olympic champion Athing Mu who she came so close to beating at the outdoor world championships in Eugene last year.
“I will have a few days off now and then will prepare to chase some more wins. Of course I’m excited for the summer,” she said.
There was a surprise in the women’s long jump as Great Britain’s Jazmin Sawyers produced a final jump of 7.00m, the longest in the world this year, to grab the gold medal in a competition in which Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany could only finish fourth with a best effort of 6.83m.
In other outstanding performances, Ukraine’s Yaroslava Mahuchikh retained her women’s high jump title with a winning clearance of 1.98m and Kevin Mayer of France won the heptathlon title for the third time in these championships.
