Miss Euros? Letrsrun.com Recap
Read Below for a Recap on All the Action
By Joseph CarrollDid you miss the Euros last week? Were you a bit distracted by that big meet they have out in Eugene? That’s ok, we were too. Read below for a quick recap of the action.
Mens 5k/1500
Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 5k in 13:20.11 closing in a 53.14 all while looking smooth and in control. Ingebrigtsen was looking behind him the entire last lap, all in an effort to save energy for the 1500 final on Wednesday where he would face Neil Gourley. Narve Nordås finished a distant 11th place in 13:26.91. Nordås raced poorly at Euros and was knocked out in the rounds of the 1500 finishing 12th out of 16 in his heat.
In the men’s 1500 it was again Ingebrigtsen who took home the win in 3:31.95, a whole 1.35 seconds in front of the field. In typical Ingebrigtsen fashion, he went straight to the back the first lap before making his way up to the front of the field 600 in. He would stay there the rest of the race and started to quicken the pace with a lap to go, but was only .45 seconds in front of Neil Gourley, but poured it on the final 100 to win by over a second. Gourley finished a disappointing 9th.
Quick Take: All the Jakob panic can stop
After the Pre Classic where Jakob lost to his main rival, world champion Josh Kerr, people were quick to take to our world-famous message boards and say that he was finished. Since then he won in Oslo vs. 2019 world champion Timothy Cheruiyot in a diving finish, and now won both the Euros 5k and 1500, destroying the field in the final home straight in the latter. The Jakob that we are used to is dominating and setting records all season, but he had to miss a large chunk of his base training due to injury. Jakob said “For the first time, I am in a position where every day going forward from here, I will just get better because the time since my injury will just be further back”. People forget that Josh Kerr finished his first three 1500’s last year 9th, 3rd and 2nd, only winning one 1500 all year, the world championship. If Jakob finished a race in 9th place our site would crash. The difference between Josh and Jakob is that we hold Jakob to the expectation of being one of the greatest runners ever. Jakob is getting better by the day and will likely be at full strength for Paris. He still is the defending champion after all.
Men and Women’s 800
In the women’s 800 it was British star and world silver medalist Keely Hodgkinson who took home the win in 1:58.65 after leading gun to tape. She became one of three women to win two golds in the event.
In the men’s 800 it was Frenchmen Gabriel Tual who won in 1:44.87. This is his first European championship, and a step in the right direction to get him back to his 2022 form that saw him make the world championship final.
Women’s 1500
In the women’s 1500 it was Ireland’s Ciara Mageean who used a 60.59 final lap to overtake Britain’s Georgia Bell for the win in 4:04.66. Mageean was able to use her new 1:58.51 800 pb to take gold and will look to use it to put her in the Olympic final in a few month’s time.
The Rest of Distance
In the women’s distance events it was Italian Nadia Battocletti who won both the 5k in 14:35.29 and the 10k in 30:51.32. She won the 5k in a championship record after sitting on Norwegian Karoline Bjerkeli Grøvdal who led the entire race until the final 100. In the 10k she took the lead 800 out and never looked back and won in a national record. She is the 3rd woman to win both distance events at Euros. In the men’s 10k it was Dominic Lokinyomo Lobalu of Switzerland who pulled away the final 100 to win in 28:00.32.
Men and Women’s 400 Hurdles
The 400 hurdles have been on fire this year and Euro’s was no different. Olympic champion Karsten Warholm dipped under 47 yet again this season to continue his gold medal quest. He got off to a great start and led from gun to tape. This is a step in the right direction for Warholm after he started off his season with a loss to world champion Alison Dos Santos in Oslo. Warholm is the first athlete since Harald Schmid from 1978-1986 to win three consecutive European gold medals in the event. In the Women’s race, it was Femke Bol who continued her undefeated season at the one-lap distance and won in a championship record and world-leading time of 52.49. Her 1.74-second margin of victory is the largest ever in the event at Euros.
Quick Take: We Are Spoiled With The 400 Hurdles This Year
On the men’s side, we have a star-studded big three of Karsten Warholm, Alison Dos Santos, and Rai Benjamin. It is a rare occasion when we see all three in the same race, and that is a treat that we will likely get this year. It is something that has only happened five times.
| Competition | Date | Rai Benjamin | Karsten Warholm | Alison Dos Santos |
| IAAF World Championship 2019 | 30 Sep 2019 | 2nd / 47.66 | 1st / 47.42 | 7th / 48.28 |
| The XXXII Olympic Games | 03 Aug 2021 | 2nd / 46.17 | 1st / 45.94 | 3rd / 46.72 |
| World Athletics Championships 2022 | 19 Jul 2022 | 2nd / 46.89 | 7th / 48.42 | 1st / 46.29 |
| World Athletics Championships 2023 | 23 Aug 2023 | 3rd / 47.56 | 1st / 46.89 | 5th / 48.10 |
| Prefontaine Classic | 16 Sep 2023 | 1st / 46.39 | 2nd / 46.53 | 4th / 47.44 |
They are the three fastest men in history and have the fourteen quickest times ever run. When they all are in the same race the quickest three winning times have been the first, third, and fourth quickest times in history (the second quickest time was run by Rai Benjamin against Warholm at the 2021 Olympics). On the Women’s side, we will get another square-off between Femke Bol and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone who have only raced twice in their storied careers. It is not often that you have the world leader at 400 opt for the 400 hurdles, yet that is what McLaughlin-Levrone is doing. Each time the pair has raced McLaughlin-Levrone has run under 52 seconds to win and has run the number one and three times in history. The pair are the fastest two women in history and are both in great form for what will be an epic showdown in Paris.
Men and Women’s 100
Olympic 100 champ Marcell Jacobs won the 100 in a time of 10.02 while Brit Dina Asher-Smith won the 100 in a time of 10.99. This is a step in the right direction for Jacobs as he was third and fourth in his last two races. He now won both his heat and the final, running quicker than he ever did last year and running a season’s best in the process. Smith also is trending in the right direction as this European title marks her first major medal in five years, since the 2019 world championships 200.
Men and Women’s 400 – 2 European threats for Paris
Indoor world champion Alexander Doom won the 400 in a quick 44.15 and Natalia Kaczmarek dropped a monster 48.98, good for a top-five time in the world. Doom has a ton of momentum heading towards the Olympics as he has won every 400 this year aside from a narrow .05 loss to the reigning Olympic champion Steven Gardiner at the 63rd Ostrava Golden Spike. For Kaczmarek, this was a huge half-second personal best and should give her confidence that she will be able to get on the medal stand in Paris, although the task will not be easy with the event deeper than it’s ever been with 10 athletes running under 50 seconds this year.
Field Events -#3 TJ ever
The field athletes showed out as well Jordan Alejandro Díaz Fortun beat the Olympic champ in triple jump with a massive #3 all-time jump of 18.18 m. This is the first international medal for Díaz Fortun and it puts him firmly in the conversation for Olympic champion later this summer. Díaz Fortun had to have a massive jump as he was trailing in the competition and responded in a big way with his 5th jump. Italian Olympic champion Gianmarco Tamberi jumped a world-leading 2.37 m to win the high jump, while Kristjan Čeh knocked off the world record holder in the discus throwing 68.08 m. Olympic and world champion Mondo Duplantis was amazing as usual, winning the high jump with a 6.10 m clearance, beating second place by a record 23 centimeters. Olympic bronze medalist Yaroslava Mahuchikh won the women’s high jump with a 2.01 m clearance. Adriana Vilagoš had an impressive 64.82 m javelin throw to win the competition in the #4 throw in the world. Italian Leonardo Fabbri set a European championship record with a 22.45 m throw to win in the shot put. Jakub Vadlejch won the men’s javelin with a world #2 throw of 88.65m. German Malaika Mihambo jumped a world-leading 7.22 m to win the women’s long jump.
