Jakob Ingebrigtsen, world athletics prodigy, without filters against cheaters: “Doping is worse today than ten years ago”

Jakob Ingebrigtsen He is a prodigy of world athletics. At 23, he is the Olympic 1,500 meter champion and two-time 5,000 meter world champion. An athlete in continuous growth, fourth in the historical ranking of the 1,500 (3’27’14 in Chorzów, Poland, last July), third in the 3,000 (7’23’63 in Eugene last September) and 19th in the 5 ‘000 (12’48’45 in Florence, in June). 2021). These scrolls make him an authoritative voice when it comes to talking about sports. This is why his words on the scourge of doping had a strong resonance.

“I think doping is worse today than it was ten years ago. It’s hard to prove, but that’s what I feel. The problem now is that we see fewer positive controls and this worries me a lot. It’s a sign that people are getting smarter and finding better ways to evade detection. or perhaps that the checks don’t detect enough,” said the Norwegian middle-distance runner.

For Ingebrigtsen there is an added satisfaction in finishing ahead of an alleged cheater on a racing track.

“It is the definitive destruction. It’s more embarrassing for them: even if they have the balls to cheat, they don’t do it well,” he said in a wide-ranging interview published by the British newspaper Times, in which he was shown at home with his pregnant wife.

One of the athletes with whom he has maintained a tough rivalry in recent years has been the Spaniard Mohammed Katirwho accompanied him in the 5,000 meters at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest. Well, this athlete was disqualified for two years for being unavailable during the three anti-doping tests and will not be able to compete until February 6, 2026.

In the midst of recovering from an injury to one of her Achilles tendons, Ingebrigtsen decided to skip the indoor season in the European winter, including the World Cup in Glasgow. His focus is on the European Championship in Rome and obviously at the Paris Olympics, where he will try to become champion in the 1,500 and 5,000.

“I will race in Rome. If my wife gives birth on the same day it’s my turn to run, then I run and then I go home. “This is life,” she stated as a personal philosophy. Like it or not, that’s Jakob.

Many see him as arrogant, but his view is very different. “Some athletes are afraid to say they will win because they fear they will fall if they don’t. What fun is it to be like this? If I don’t want to win, I’ll read a book. This is a competition. “It’s not a love story,” she said.

And he closed with ambition: “The best athlete of all time has not yet been crowned. “Winning five or six Olympic gold medals in all disciplines would mean the end of the discussion.”