There are not many athletes that have as much impact in athletics as Jakob Ingebrigtsen. Whether he’s setting records or calling out his competitors, the Norwegian is undoubtably a star of the sport.
But here are 10 things you might not know about Ingebrigtsen…
A YouTube star
Ingebrigtsen has his own YouTube channel where he shares behind the scenes in his training, injury updates, and snippets of his life beyond athletics.
He’s got 116k subscribers and his videos have amassed nearly 5.5m views in total!
First sub-four minute mile
In 2017 Ingebrigtsen ran a sub-four minute mile for the first time, clocking 3:58.07 at just 16-years-old which was also his first race in the mile.
At the time he was the youngest to achieve the milestone, that title is now held by Kiwi Sam Ruthe who broke four minutes last year at 15-years-old.
Junior success
In 2017 the European Athletics U20 Championships went to Grosseto with Ingebrigtsen one of the many now global medallists to have competed, also including Lieke Klaver and Armand Duplantis.
But the Norwegian came away with gold in the 5000m and 3000m steeplechase, and had been one of the favourites for gold in the 1500m if not for a fall in the final.
World debut at 16
Just weeks later while still just 16-years-old, Ingebrigtsen made his debut at a world athletics championships.
He competed in the 3000m steeplechase in London, placing eighth in his heat which was won by Conseslus Kipruto who went on to also win the final.
First taste of European glory
Having taken two golds at Grosseto 2017, Ingebrigtsen made his senior European Athletics Championships debut in Berlin on 8 August in the 1500m heats.
He would go on to take the 1500m title at just 17-years-old before returning the following day to also take gold over 5000m.
Runs in the family
Jakob’s 1500m European gold in Berlin made him the third Ingebrigtsen to take that title, a pretty rare feat.
His brothers Filip Ingebrigtsen won in 2016, and Henrik Ingebrigtsen in 2012, with all three brothers in the final in Berlin.
Gotta catch them all
Ingebrigtsen has been a fan of Pokémon since he was young and got into collecting cards through his older siblings.
One of his favourite cards he has is a Charizard gold card, and the hobby is an enjoyable thing for him to focus his mind on outside of running.
European championships history
With his win over 5000m at the Birmingham 2026 European Athletics Championships, Ingebrigtsen now has seven gold medals from these championships.
That seventh gold maintained his lead as the male athlete with the most golds in championship history.
Family made for tv
The Ingebrigtsen family garnered so much attention in Norway that a reality tv/ docu-series was filmed on them.
Season one on Team Ingebrigtsen was released in 2016, running through to the fifth season’s release in December 2021.
Ultimate comeback
As the year slowly began and the indoor season was underway, Ingebrigtsen announced that he had undergone surgery for an achilles injury that had persisted for years.
Suddenly there were questions as to whether he would be able to defend his title for a third time, but within just 28 weeks he was back in top form and took gold in Birmingham.