"A reality check of how bad it is" - Jakob Ingebrigtsen expresses disappointment after a shocking exit from World Athletics Championships

Norwegian runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen opened up after a shock exit from the World Athletics Championships 2025. The former Olympic champion couldn't proceed beyond the preliminary stage of the men's 1500m event at the National Stadium in Tokyo.

In a conversation with the media after the preliminaries, Jakob Ingebrigtsen expressed his thoughts about the race, and where he could have gone wrong. The Norwegian runner wasn't impressed with his performance.

When the journalist asked if he had experienced a similar situation before, Ingebrigtsen replied,

"No, it's a first time experience. So it's of course very disappointed, but at the same time, a reality check of how bad it is, and the 1500[m] is an event that is very competitive of course, and you need to prepare your best, and unfortunately I'm not there."

However, the Norwegian runner is hopeful for a golden hattrick in the men's 5000m event. Ingebrigtsen further added,

"I'm probably closer to the 5000m, fitness is prime right now so hopefully we'll recover and have a couple of good days until we go again and try again."

Jakob Ingebrigtsen had clocked 3:37.84 in the fourth heat of the men's 1500m event. The Norwegian runners finished on the eighth position in his heat. Ingebrigtsen will now compete in the preliminaries of men's 5000m, which shall be held on September 19.

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When Jakob Ingebrigtsen opened up skipping events due to injury in the 2025 season

Jakob Ingebrigtsen talks about skipping events ahead of the World Championships 2025 [Image Source : Getty]

Jakob Ingebrigtsen opened up about skipping many events due to his injury in the 2025 season. In the vlog uploaded on his YouTube channel titled 'Injury Diaries #02", the Norwegian runner mentioned about why he took the tough decision as he mentioned,

"A lot more to improve and lot more things need to be done to be 100% prepared for the world championship. I think in the next two or three weeks we will get a lot of answers on what type of training that I'm doing and what I can do, and also in terms of fitness. I think that is going to lead to a very exciting mid-September, where, the worst case scenario, we will have to change things a little bit and maybe do something a little bit different."

The Norwegian runner also reminded the viewers about his previous experience as a steeplechase runner as he further added,

"Don't forget I was a steeplechaser in 2017 in my first world championship. But again, that's very much a difficult decision for your tendons. But that's where we are at right now. We are trying to push as much as we can and at the same time listening to the body and displaying all our options and trying to maximise our performance and results."

Jakob Ingebrigtsen had previously participated at the Indoor World Championships held in Nanjing this year. the Norwegian runner had won gold medals in both the men's 1500m and the men's 3000m respectively.

Edited by Animesh Pandey