When he retained his U20 title in Samorin at the SPAR European Cross Country Championships last December, Jakob Ingebrigtsen did more than just wave to the crowd with the tape in view.
He was putting down a marker for the start of one of the most extraordinary 12 months any athlete has ever produced in track and field as he rose to senior stardom.
Ingebrigtsen’s victory over 6.28km came in a time of 18:39, winning gold by two seconds from Türkiye’s Ramazan Barbaros, a year after winning by 12 seconds in Chia.
Less than three months since his 18th birthday, the Norwegian superstar will chase an unprecedented third triumph at this age group in Tilburg on Sunday (9) with the prospect of him being young enough to come back to compete in this age-group in Lisbon in 2019.
Ingebrigtsen will be among a field of 103 entrants from 29 countries chasing the title at the last major championships of the year but how do those other 102 prepare when they know they are no longer up against just a star in the junior ranks? They are competing over five laps with the man who dominated the track at the summer’s European Championships in Berlin where he won the 1500m and 5000m.
The first two laps in the U20 race are of 1000m, the second two of 1500m with the final one of 1300m. Ingebrigtsen is one of a Norwegian team of five, being joined by Simen Halle Haugen, Hakon Stavik, Simon Nebijo Steinshamn and Jonatan Andersen Vedvik, with Ingebrigtsen the youngest among them.
The greatest challenge to Ingebrigtsen might come from Great Britain’s European U20 1500m champion Jake Heyward, the beneficiary of Ingebrigtsen’s fall on the last lap of the 1500m final in Grosseto last year. Heyward was fourth at the IAAF World U20 Championships in Tampere - just two places behind Ingebrigtsen - and was a comprehensive winner of the British Trials in Liverpool last month.
“I’ve got unfinished business at that event as I made the team last year but got ill just before the race itself,” Heyward told Athletics Weekly ahead of the event.
Serbia’s Elzan Bibic hasn’t distinguished himself at the European Cross Country Championships but he has an excellent track background, winning the 3000m title at the inaugural European U18 Championships in Tbilisi. He was the runaway winner of the U20 title at the Balkan Cross Country Championships last month but Bibic’s best performance at continental level was 28th in 2015.
Spain won team gold in Samorin with four runners in the top nine and they have entered a squad of eight – six can be selected – with Mario Garcia, 19, who was ninth in 2017, back for a final bid for a medal before he steps up to the U23s.
Leading the charge for the host nation will be the US-based Ryan Oosting who won 3000m bronze for the Netherlands at the European U18 Championships in Gyor in the summer.
Lau to face strong opposition Healy and Sclabas at home
There is nothing like the adulation of a home winner and one of the most experienced women in this field might just taste that.
The Netherlands’ Jasmijn Lau, 19, was fourth in Samorin last year, just two seconds away from the podium and now with the greater incentive of the Dutch crowd cheering her on, Sunday could become her moment.
But as Jakob Ingebrigtsen has proved, age is not always the criteria to select the potential winner. If Lau is looking through the field of 97 entrants, her main rival over 4.3km could be Ireland’s Sarah Healy, two years Lau’s junior at 17.
What a summer it was for Healy at the European Athletics U18 Championships in Gyor, Hungary where she won the 1500m and 3000m double, setting championship record in both with times of 4:18.71 and 9:18:05 respectively.
Türkiye’s Inci Kalkan and France’s Alessia Zarbo were second and third behind Healy over 3000m in lifetime bests of 9:24.01 and 9:25.25 respectively and will be looking to make the podium again at the Beekse Bergen Safari Park.
Healy’s predecessor to both titles was Switzerland’s Delia Sclabas who won a brace of medals at the World U20 Championships in Tampere with bronze over 800m and 1500m. Sclabas, who is also the reigning European U20 3000m champion, is yet to pick up a medal at the European Cross Country Championships but she has form on this course, winning the U20 race at the Warandecross last month.
Cari Hughes and Khahisa Mhlanga, two of Great Britain’s team gold medallists from Samorin, return to defend their crown. As Harriet Knowles-Jones won the individual title, Hughes was ninth and Mhlanga was 11th to secure gold and Great Britain will be fielding a full complement of six athletes in their attempt to reach the top of the rostrum again.
The Germans also have a very good record in the U20 race in recent years courtesy of the exploits of Konstanze Klosterhalfen and Alina Reh. The standout name in their team is reigning European U20 3000m steeplechase champion Lisa Oed, who won in the build-up to Tilburg in Pforzheim and Darmstadt.
The women’s U20 race is over three laps, the first two at 1500m and the second one at 1300m.