Jakob Ingebrigtsen Kicks to a Fourth European 5,000m Title in His First Race Back

With a lap to go in Birmingham, England, on Monday night, Jakob Ingebrigtsen was boxed on the inside rail, hemmed behind France’s Jimmy Gressier while Germany’s Florian Bremm swung wide to attack. Off the final bend the inside lane came free, Ingebrigtsen surged into it, and the question that had hung over his whole season answered itself: the finishing kick is intact, and he still does not lose at these championships.

He won the men’s 5,000m at the European Championships in 13:15.29, a fourth straight European crown at the distance and the seventh outdoor European gold of his career, more than any man in the meet’s history. Bremm was second in 13:15.60 and Etienne Daguinos of France took bronze in 13:16.09. No man had won the same individual event at these championships four times until Monday.

A championship race like this does not necessarily tell you much about a runner’s real form. Ingebrigtsen’s 13:15.29 was about 27 seconds slower than the 12:48.45 European record he set in 2023, and the final was set up to be won on the last lap, not against the clock. The field covered the opening kilometer in 2:45.20, content to let the pace build, before Ingebrigtsen’s closing 400m of 54.94 settled it. He had last run behind pacemakers in February 2025, when he broke the indoor mile world record, so his top-end speed was an unknown, including to him.

Switzerland’s Dominic Lobalu, the European 10,000m champion from 2024, led through the middle of the race and faded to seventh. Gressier forced the pace into the bell with a 62.58 lap and then a 60.50, nine men still on his shoulder. The final two laps turned physical. A separate collision took down Ingebrigtsen’s own teammate, Andreas Fjeld Halvorsen, along with the Netherlands’ Mike Foppen, and Nick Griggs of Ireland lost a spike. Thirteen runners were still in the lead group with 600m to run, down to seven by the bell. Gressier led into the straight but was caught for bronze in the closing strides and placed fourth.

Bremm, who trains alongside Ingebrigtsen in St. Moritz, said the result did not surprise him. “I have raced with Jakob since the juniors cross country and I was always at the back chasing him,” he said. “He’s just another number in the race. But he proved he’s faster than everyone else even after the injury.”

The win closes an absence that began at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, where Ingebrigtsen went out in the heats, his worst finish at a global meet since 2017. He had an operation on his Achilles in February and confirmed his entry only about two weeks ago. “I dreamt of this moment two weeks ago when I put my name on the list,” Ingebrigtsen said. “With 600m to go, I knew I was going to win,” he told BBC Sport.

The victory extends a European winning streak that dates to 2018, when he first raced the senior championships at 17. Ingebrigtsen is entered in the 1,500m at the Diamond League meeting in Zurich on Aug. 27, his first start there since September 2024. It will be his first paced race in more than a year, and the first real test of whether his speed has returned with him.