Jakob Ingebrigtsen will miss World Indoor Championships with Achilles injury

The Olympic 1,500m champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, will not be at the 2024 World Indoor Championships in Glasgow this March. Ingebrigtsen has been sidelined with an Achilles injury that has kept him away from the sport since the end of the 2023 Diamond League season in September.

According to the Norweigan news site Dagsavisen, Ingebrigtsen has been dealing with a nagging Achilles injury and will not likely compete until the outdoor season. Ingebrigtsen said in a statement that he’s making progress, but that he does not want to take any risks, with the busy season ahead. “I know my body, and it sometimes happens that it needs a little extra time to heal before I start with hard loads,” wrote Ingebrigtsen. “I run my own scheme and I know that works. For me, it’s European Championships and Olympic medals that matter.”

The 23-year-old’s injury also forced him to miss the European Cross Country Championships last month, which will also likely leave him out of the World Cross Country Championships at the end of March.

Ingebrigtsen has never won a world indoor championship title. His only indoor medal was a silver in the men’s 1,500m at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia. He was beaten in the event by Ethiopia’s Samuel Tefera, and tested positive for COVID-19 the following day.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen runs five-minute beer mile at bachelor party

It is a busy calendar year for many European athletes with World Indoors, World Cross, The Olympic Games and European Championships all on the calendar between March and September.  

It has been an eventful year for Ingebrigtsen, who defended his world 5,000m title at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, and finished runner-up to Great Britain’s Josh Kerr in the men’s 1,500m. He also clocked two world records (in the two-mile and the 2,000m), along with the second-fastest time in history over the mile at the Diamond League final in Eugene, Ore.