Jakob Ingebrigtsen calls out rivals at World Indoor Championships

On Friday, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen was dominant in the first round of the men’s 1,500m at the 2025 World Indoor Championships in Nanjing, China. The 24-year-old distance-running star patiently sat at the back of the pack for the first five laps before surging to the front, leaving his competitors in the rearview.

After the race, Ingebrigtsen stopped in the mixed zone and was asked by Let’s Run journalist Jonathan Gault if he was disappointed that all three Olympic 1,500m medallists had skipped the championships. Smirking, Ingebrigtsen replied, “Aren’t we all?”

The three Olympic medallists from Paris 2024—Cole Hocker, Josh Kerr and Yared Nuguse—chose not to travel to Nanjing, despite having qualifying times. Several American athletes cited the challenging travel schedule for three days of competition in China as a reason for their absence.

Ingebrigtsen refrained from naming names, but said he couldn’t turn down the opportunity to compete for more world championship medals. “It’s worth it [making the trip] when it’s a world championship,” he said. “Even though I believe track is an outdoor sport.”

Ingebrigtsen’s weekend goal is two gold medals, in the men’s 1,500m and 3,000m events. The Norwegian has yet to win a World Indoor gold medal; his sole medal came in 2022, when he settled for silver behind Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera in the 1,500m final.

Ingebrigtsen will take to the track on Saturday morning in the men’s 3,000m final at 7:30 a.m. ET (19:30 local time) and again on Sunday morning in the men’s 1,500m final at 8:15 a.m. ET (20:15 local time). All events can be streamed from Canada on CBC Sports for free.