It has been an extraordinary summer by any standard for Norway’s 16-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen but in Sandnes this weekend he took his achievements to a new level.
Running at the Norwegian Championships in a year where - among other great performances - he has become the youngest man to break four minutes for the mile, Ingebrigtsen won three titles - the 1500m, 5000m and 3000m steeplechase - and also took bronze in the 800m.
And all this on the back of running an 800m personal best of 1:49.40 at the Zurich Diamond League only on Thursday night.
It was an amazing treble which started with 5000m glory on Friday night in a European U18 best of 13:35.84 ahead of long-time international Sondre Nordstad Moen in 13:39.92. This performance left his coach and father Gjert almost speechless. “I do not have words. It's so fast that I almost do not have words,” he said.
Having also run in the 800m heats on Friday night, Ingebrigtsen won a bronze medal in the 800m in 1:50.54 and an hour later, it was gold again with victory in the 3000m steeplechase in 8:44.12. He also qualified for the 1500m final on Saturday afternoon in 3:58.93.
It set Ingebrigtsen up for more glory on Sunday when, in the absence of his older brother Filip, he took the 1500m title in 3:53.29 to claim his third title of the championships.
Three wins for Jakob Ingebrigtsen at the Norwegian Champs
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 27, 2017
1 1500m 3:53.29
1 5000m 13:35.84
1 3000m steeplechase 8:44.12
3 800m 1:50.54 pic.twitter.com/NFNrzXbt3x
It had been six years since Karoline Grovdal had competed over the 3000m steeplechase but showing no signs of rustiness, the 27-year-old stormed to a solo national record in 9:13.35, a time which stood as the European-lead until Gesa-Felicitas Krause eclipsed that mark in Berlin the following afternoon.
The 10,000m bronze medallist from last year’s European Athletics Championships in Amsterdam, Grovdal once more proved what a talented and versatile athlete she is. Grovdal burst onto the scene as a steeplechaser, winning this event at the 2007 and 2009 European Athletics U20 Championships before turning her focus to the flat in recent years.
But after such an emphatic return to the 3000m steeplechase, Grovdal told the Norwegian press her long-term goal is to claim a medal in this event at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo.
Contesting her first 3000m steeplechase since 2011, former European U20 champion Karoline Grovdal wins the Norwegian title in 9:13.35! pic.twitter.com/jlgCQAkP3U
— European Athletics (@EuroAthletics) August 26, 2017
In the javelin, Sigrid Borge won with 60.93m - the first 60m throw by a woman at the national championships since Trine Hattestad - while world champion Karsten Warholm won that event in a fine 48.73, as well as winning the 400m flat in 46.44.
Larsson flies to national title
As Ingebrigtsen was making the headlines in Sandnes, another brilliant junior was proving his worth at the Swedish Championships in Helsingborg.
Like Ingebrigtsen, Henrik Larsson also celebrates his birthday next month – he is 18 – and the teenager is now the national 200m champion after winning in 20.71 (+3.2 m/s) from Tom Kling-Baptiste in 20.75.
It was a championships he will long remember. He also set a national U20 record of 10.31 in the semifinals of the 100m, where the title went to Austin Hamilton (10.18). Larsson finished second in 10.21 but the time was aided by a slightly illegal following wind of 2.2 m/s.
Daniel Stahl, the world silver medallist who remains the world-leader with 71.29m, won the discus with a good quality 67.80m from fellow world finalist Simon Pettersson with 64.84m. Elsewhere, Meraf Bahta completed the middle distance double with victory in the 800m in 2:07.29 and the 1500m in 4:18.25 and Andreas Kramer won a tactical men’s 800m in 1:50.46.
Jungfleisch clears 2.00m in Eberstadt
At the 39th Eberstadt High Jump Meeting, there was home glory on Saturday as Germany’s Marie-Laurence Jungfleisch won the women’s title for a third season in a row by clearing 2.00m for the second time in her career.
Not only did she match her personal best, she almost made it over at 2.02m as she beat two London 2017 medallists, Poland’s Kamila Licwinko (1.96m) and Ukraine’s Yulia Levchenko (1.91m).
As Qatar’s world champion Mutaz Essa Barshim won the men’s event on Sunday with another brilliant 2.40m clearance, Russia's Danil Lysenko cleared a European-leading height of 2.38m to improve his personal best by four centimetres with Germany’s Mateusz Przybylko in third on 2.30m.
Vetter close to 90 metres again in Bad Kostritz
After finishing fourth in the Zurich Diamond League on Thursday night, world javelin champion Johannes Vetter was back in top form on home soil in Bad Kostritz on Friday evening, breaking Tero Pitkamaki’s meeting record with 89.42m.
At the 22nd staging of this throwing meet, the world champion also went out to 89.38m in the second round and 87.35m in the sixth round to beat Latvia Rolands Strobinders (85.07m) and fellow German Lars Hamann (83.47m).
Austrian record-holder Lukas Weisshaidinger won the discus with 63.52m and Czech Republic’s Tomas Stanek won the shot put with a meeting record of 21.66m ahead of David Storl (21.34m) and Poland’s Michal Haratyk (21.27m).
Fine domestic wins for Lagger and Zupin
Sarah Lagger and Agata Zupin both made the podium at the European Athletics U20 Championships in Grosseto last month and they were celebrating again this weekend.
In Innsbruck, Lagger, the bronze medallist in Grosseto, won the Austrian heptathlon title with 5891 points while in Maribor, Zupin, the European U20 400m hurdles silver medallist and a semifinalist at the World Championships, won the 400m flat in 53.10 and the 400m hurdles in 56.49.