Jakob Ingegrigtsen, Norway’s 18 year old European champion at both 1500m and 5000m, will make his eagerly awaited season debut at the Bauhaus Galan tomorrow evening.
Season’s debut for Jakob
He said: “I feel good now after a couple of days off training with illness. Going into tomorrow I am really not sure how I will be but I am hoping for a good race and a good way to start my season.
“I am a person who likes to set goals and I do everything I can to fulfill them. For this season my goal is to run fast and to gain another half a second off my PB. Last year I took eight seconds off my PB but that cannot happen every year! If I am able to do that I will be very happy. I am looking forward to it.”
Building on bronze
Older brother, Henrik, will be looking to build on his bronze medal at the European indoor championships in Glasgow in March. He started his season with a 3:40.23 in Belgium earlier this month.
He is looking forward to the race tomorrow and commented: “I am not feeling great but excited to race. I had pretty big goals for the season but I have had to moderate them because my preparations during the spring have not been very good for me. I have had problems with my hip so have not been able to do any speed work or race pace yet. I am excited to race tomorrow and see where I am at and then I will go from there.
“Tomorrow has come a bit soon for me but with the world championships not until late summer it is in my favour. I am lucky they are not in July. I have enough time to prepare and get better. Of course the first task is to qualify and then if I get there build on my speed and prepare. It is going to be an exciting season and the question for me is how long will it take me to get back into shape.”
On the sibling rivalry:
“My brothers are both pushing and always pushing to improve and become as good as they can be. Filip has a bronze from the world championships and I know he wants to go better. I am excited to see how far he can go this year.
“Jakob has surprised me more every year and you never know with him. He looks strong in training and I am just trying to keep up!”
Carol Austin for Stockholm DL and Baushaus Galan media team
Photo by Jakob Ingebrigtsen by Deca Text&Bild