Jakob Ingebrigtsen struggles in Copenhagen Half Marathon; finishes debut race in 63 minutes

There was much hype surrounding the annual Copenhagen Half Marathon in Denmark this year given a high-profile addition to the startlist – Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

The Norwegian 5000m Olympic and World Champion announced his intention to make his half marathon debut in the renowned marathon,  just two days after winning the Diamond League 1500m title in Brussels.

Ingebrigtsen was handed a sober reality check of the difficulty level of the marathon, ultimately finishing a modest 34th.

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““Half marathon is just no joke. Today was all about testing myself. I have never done anything like this, but I am sure I will return to Copenhagen in some few years,” Ingebrigtsen said after the half marathon.

The Olympian started with promise, settling into a leading men’s group which also featured Uganda’s Jacob Kiplimo and Kenya’s Sabastian Sawe, Isaia Lasoi, Amos Kurgat and Kennedy Kimutai. Ingebrigtsen and the pack passed 5km in 13:53.

“Normally this is a distance that would suit my training very well, but after a long season on the track working towards the 1500m, it’s exciting to see if I even can reach the finish line,” the Norwegian said before the half marathon.

However, after the 10km mark (which he run in a national record time of 27:27), Ingebrigtsen stopped, completely out of air, walked for a bit and then huffed and puffed his way through multiple stops to eventually finish 34th.

Sawe won the half marathon in a world leading time of 58:05, just four seconds short of Geoffrey Kamworor’s race record that was set in 2019. Ingebrigtsen finally made it past the finish line in 63:13, after looking like he wouldn’t make it to the end.

“I ran until I was about to die, and stopped, ran until I was about to die again and stopped,” Ingebrigtsen said. “It’s probably not a very smart or clever way to run a half-marathon.

“This is the worst run I have ever had. The worst before was the cross country race in Aarhus in 2019 [when he was 12th]. It’s an insane mental and physical strain,” he said, according to The Times.

Ingebrigtsen is a polarising figure in the world of athletics due to his comments and self-belief that borders on being pompous.

That said, his Copenhagen debut wasn’t too shabby given the conditions and his lack of training tuned to the distance, a lesson the Norwegian learnt the hard way.