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Norweigan middle-distance phenom Jakob Ingebrigtsen has been reinstated as 2021 European Athletics Indoor 1500m champion after initially being disqualified from the meet taking place in Torun, POL.

He was initially DQ’d for stepping off the track during the race, however, after an appeal was launched it was determined that he was pushed off the track by a competitor and did not gain a competitive advantage.

The original disqualification had given Marcin Lewandowski the title he captured in 2019 in a sprint finish in Glasgow and 2017 in Belgrade.

However, the 20-year-old was determined the winner after the meet and a review was undertaken. He won in the time of 3:37.56, with Lewandowski credited with silver in 3:38.06 and bronze going to Spain’s Jesus Gomez in the time of 3:38.47. 

Ingebrigtsen told European athletics, “The rules are on my side, there is a paragraph saying if you’re pushed to the inside of the curb and it’s not your fault, it’s OK. I don’t feel I’ve done anything wrong, there were just too many runners in the race.”  

Ingebrigtsen broke the European indoor 1500m record last month with a 3:31.80 performance in Liévin, France. He is the European outdoors record holder in both the 1500m with his 3:28.68 and 2000m event at 4:50.01. He currently holds the national records in the 1500m, 2000m, 5000m, 5K road and 10K road distances. His brother Filip is the national 1000m, record holder. He has another brother Henrik, who is also a competitive runner.

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