Ingebrigtsen storms to third European 1500m indoor gold / Photo: © AFP
Ingebrigtsen storms to third European 1500m indoor gold
Norway's Jakob Ingebrigtsen won his sixth European indoor gold as he dominated the 1500m in Apeldoorn on Friday in the first step in his bid for a third consecutive double gold on the covered continental stage.
The three-time European outdoor 1500m champion, who won 5,000m gold at last year's Paris Olympics, sped to the front of the pack a third of the way through the race.
That move by the Norwegian immediately strung the field out as Germany's Robert Farken took a tumble as the athletes jostled for places.
Hitting the bell in the lead, Ingebrigtsen made it look all too easy as he cruised to his 22nd European gold medal -- including indoor, outdoor and cross-country -- in a winning time of 3min 36.56sec.
France's Azeddine Habz and Portugal's Isaac Nader claimed silver and bronze respectively.
Britain's Georgia Hunter Bell went 11th fastest ever when winning Olympic bronze in Paris and was big favourite in the Netherlands.
But she was totally upstaged in the women's 1500m by France's Agathe Guillemot, who claimed gold in 4:07.23.
Hunter Bell froze on the final lap, eventually finishing fourth as Guillemot put in an impressive fast finish in a slow race to edge Portugal's Salome Afonso, with Britain's Revee Walcott-Nolan taking bronze.
Spain bagged the first gold of the evening session on offer when reigning European outdoor champion Ana Peleteiro-Compaore sealed victory in the women's triple jump with a 14.37m effort in the fifth round.
It was her second continental indoor gold after previous winning in Glasgow in 2019.
There was a late scare from Romania's Diana Ana Maria Ion, who produced a personal best of 14.31m to take silver, while Finland's Senni Salminen secured bronze with a final-round jump of 13.99m.
S.M.Riley--TNT
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