Latest news with #JakobIngebrigtsen
Scottish Sun
5 days ago
- Science
- Scottish Sun
Exact date humans will reach their peak athletic form revealed – and it's sooner than you might think
Physiologist explains how we're 'close to being perfect specimens' PEAK PERFORMANCE Exact date humans will reach their peak athletic form revealed – and it's sooner than you might think Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) HUMANS will reach peak athletic form by the year 3000, scientists predict. They believe we are nearing the limits of physical performance in many sports, such as the 100 metre sprint. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 2 Jakob Ingebrigtsen was one of two people to break the mile record in February Credit: AFP But runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen was one of two people to break the mile record in February. Asked when records will stop being broken, sports engineer Prof Steve Haake of Sheffield Hallam University, said: 'We're kind of hitting that now. "But we're also looking at where we get to 99.99 per cent of the infinite limit. "And it's years away in events, like swimming. "By 3000 I'm pretty certain we'll have reached the limit of performance.' 3000 would be the Olympics and men's football Euros. Physiologist Dr Emma Ross added: 'Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour marathon, but it required the right surface, time of day, climate, shoes and pacers. "It wasn't within regulations. 'I wonder if the rules will have to change because the people at the top now are as close to being perfect specimens as we'll get.' Other experts have warned that by 3000 we might have a 'tech neck' hunch and claw hand from craning over phones. The Next Step in Human Evolution: Embracing Bionics
The Sun
5 days ago
- Science
- The Sun
Exact date humans will reach their peak athletic form revealed – and it's sooner than you might think
HUMANS will reach peak athletic form by the year 3000, scientists predict. They believe we are nearing the limits of physical performance in many sports, such as the 100 metre sprint. 2 But runner Jakob Ingebrigtsen was one of two people to break the mile record in February. Asked when records will stop being broken, sports engineer Prof Steve Haake of Sheffield Hallam University, said: 'We're kind of hitting that now. "But we're also looking at where we get to 99.99 per cent of the infinite limit. "And it's years away in events, like swimming. "By 3000 I'm pretty certain we'll have reached the limit of performance.' 3000 would be the Olympics and men's football Euros. Physiologist Dr Emma Ross added: 'Eliud Kipchoge broke the two-hour marathon, but it required the right surface, time of day, climate, shoes and pacers. "It wasn't within regulations. 'I wonder if the rules will have to change because the people at the top now are as close to being perfect specimens as we'll get.' Other experts have warned that by 3000 we might have a 'tech neck' hunch and claw hand from craning over phones. The Next Step in Human Evolution: Embracing Bionics 2
The Guardian
18-07-2025
- Sport
- The Guardian
Kerr and Lyles offer London Diamond League stardust despite withdrawals
One of the major issue athletics faces is the relative lack of importance that the overwhelming majority of events hold. It is one of the reasons why Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track is yet to catch alight: the pay is great for the athletes, but a win or loss counts for little in the overall scheme of a season or career. The much-maligned Diamond League has fought against such (ir)relevance throughout its existence. In such a context, it is a notable achievement that the London leg of athletics' premier season-long competition is a 60,000 sellout for what could turn out to be a thunderstorm-threatened Saturday afternoon. Those spectators bought their tickets long before the inevitable drip, drip of high-profile withdrawals that is a common occurrence outside of the major championships that define the sport. BBC Sports Personality of the Year Keely Hodgkinson was slated to headline the meeting, but pulled out at the start of the week as she continues her recovery from a hamstring injury. She is yet to compete since winning Olympic 800 metres gold last August. Joining her among the list of absentees is Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who was supposed to face off with 1500m rival and reigning world champion Josh Kerr. Distance-running great Sifan Hassan also withdrew from the mile a few days ago. The loss of such high-profile stars is not ideal in a week that has seen Kenyan marathon world record holder Ruth Chepngetich provisionally suspended after testing positive for a banned diuretic and masking agent. By the start of this month, Kenya had 139 people on the Athletics Integrity Unit's banned list – more than double any country aside from India. However, withdrawals and suspensions are familiar territory for a capacity crowd who will make the London Diamond League the largest single-day athletics meet in the world by some margin. In return, they will still be treated to one of the strongest assemblies of athletes outside of a global championships. Shorn of Ingebrigtsen, the men's 1500m could, weather-depending, bring the curtain down on proceedings in spectacular fashion, with Kerr confirming the pacemakers have been instructed to reach halfway on track for a British record. Kerr facing up against his world champion predecessor Jake Wightman and newly installed second-fastest British runner ever George Mills is an intriguing prospect. 'It's the most incredible Diamond League out there and I'm just looking to put on something that's worth everyone's time in the last event,' said Kerr. 'It's going to be an awesome race. I'm looking to go out there, run something fast and put something on the leaderboard that will make me proud going into the world championships. 'A British record would be a great way for me to run this week. No 1 priority is to win, and you're going to get a good enough time from that. But I'm not here for a slow race. It's not going to be boring.' Sign up to The Recap The best of our sports journalism from the past seven days and a heads-up on the weekend's action after newsletter promotion If rain does not ruin fast times, there could yet be an assault on the 800m world record set by David Rudisha on this same London track during the 2012 Olympics. His Kenyan compatriot, reigning Olympic champion Emmanuel Wanyonyi, spearheads a lineup befitting of a global final. Hodgkinson last year smashed her own British 800m record in such stunning fashion that she admitted it had put the four-decade-old women's world record into her thoughts. In her absence, British trio Georgia Hunter-Bell, Jemma Reekie and Laura Muir will likely battle it out for the win. Elsewhere, Noah Lyles will race over 100m for the first time since winning Olympic gold last summer. He beat Botswana's Olympic 200m champion Letsile Tebogo over the longer distance in Monaco last week, and both men resume their rivalry in London, although Jamaica's Oblique Seville is the fastest man in the field this year.
BBC News
12-07-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Hodgkinson to miss London Diamond League meet
Olympic 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson will not compete at next weekend's London Diamond League as she continues to make her way back to full 23-year-old Briton is yet to start her outdoor season after tearing her hamstring in is back in full training after suffering a minor setback in June but has made the decision to delay her season opener to make sure she is completely ready to race with London coming too soon in her top form in time for September's World Championships in Tokyo, Japan is the priority for Manchester-born won silver at the Worlds in 2022 and 2023, she will hope to go one better this who was awarded an MBE in May, won 800m Olympic gold in Paris last summer with a stunning one minute 56.72 seconds also set a British record time of 1:54.61 at London Stadium in 2024 but the focus on collecting another global medal means sacrificing the chance to race on the same track this is another high-profile withdrawal from the London Diamond League following Norway's 1500m star Jakob Ingebrigtsen, who had been set to renew his rivalry with Britain's Josh Kerr but will miss out with an meet in London on 19 July is the 11th of 15 in the Diamond League this season.
CNN
23-06-2025
- Sport
- CNN
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is on a mission to be ‘recognized as the best runner to exist'
Bobbing up and down in a swimming pool, his head barely above the surface of the water, Jakob Ingebrigtsen is being forced to take things slowly. Very, very slowly. As he moves at a snail's pace around the pool at his home in Sandnes, Norway, Ingebrigtsen is quietly plotting his return to the running track. An Achilles injury has kept him out of action of late, and the recovery process, which the two-time Olympic champion is documenting on his YouTube channel, seems arduous and painstaking – even boring. As well as low-impact 'aquajogging' around a small pool, Ingebrigtsen might work up a sweat on a cross-training machine or rehab his Achilles with some weighted calf lifts. It's hardly a position he wants to be in with the World Athletics Championships less than three months away, but the 24-year-old still hopes to upgrade the gold and silver medal he won two years ago. 'I want to do that just a little bit better,' he tells CNN Sports. 'That's the main goal.' Self-improvement is Ingebrigtsen's raison d'être, constantly chasing ways to get fitter and faster. He broke the indoor mile and 1,500-meter world records earlier this year, adding to his outdoor records in the 2,000 and 3,000 meters. Two indoor world titles in Nanjing, China followed, making him only the sixth male distance runner to win Olympic, world outdoor and world indoor gold medals. That seemed to set up Ingebrigtsen perfectly for the year ahead before his strained Achilles forced him to reevaluate things. It's unclear when he will be back racing, but it's hardly changed the overarching ambitions for his running career. 'As an individual athlete, I want to be recognized as the best runner to exist,' says Ingebrigtsen, adding: 'The goal is to compete as much as I can. I really enjoy testing myself and trying to run the fastest (possible) is a part of that test … I think my chances are good for running fast.' Ingebrigtsen has used his time away from competitions to announce the launch Spring Run Club alongside a group of elite Norwegian athletes, including brothers Henrik and Filip. It features an elite team for male and female athletes with access to high-end facilities, training camps and training plans – 'everything that can be very difficult to facilitate if you're by yourself,' says Ingebrigtsen. The club also caters for amateur runners through its online platform, where members receive workout suggestions, nutrition tips and invites to group runs and races. 'There's a very big interest in running, and it's skyrocketed the last couple years,' says Ingebrigtsen. 'I think we wanted to use the opportunity to inspire and help the average runner, hobby runner, sub elite, and also elite runner as the best way possible to inspire and bring our knowledge, our expertise.' For Ingebrigtsen, the project is a way to broaden his sphere of influence beyond individual accolades, part of a goal to 'improve the systems around the world and also in Norway.' Perhaps more than most, Ingebrigtsen has seen how challenging the life of a professional athlete can be, especially when the relationship with your coach – who also happens to be a parent – begins to break down. Up until 2022, he and his brothers were coached by their father, Gjert – the family patriarch who was renowned for maintaining a close grip on his children's training and lifestyle. A documentary series, 'Team Ingebrigtsen,' shed light on the father-son, athlete-coach dynamic, resulting in the Ingebrigtsens becoming the most famous family in track and field. Then in October 2023, Jakob, Henrik and Filip publicly accused their father of using physical violence and threats towards them. Those allegations were followed by a high-profile trial in Norwegian courts, at the end of which Gjert was convicted of assaulting his daughter, Ingrid, leading to a suspended prison sentence and a 10,000 Norwegian Krone (just over $1,000) fine. He was, however, acquitted of other charges, which included abusing Jakob, the family's most decorated and well-known athlete. Gjert's defense attorneys, John Christian Elden and Heidi Reisvang, said that the court verdict showed there was no evidence of the 59-year-old creating 'a continuous fear in his children.' Jakob spoke with CNN Sports while the trial was still ongoing. He did not want to comment on the outcome of the legal proceedings, according to his representative, Espen Skoland, but on the day the verdict was announced, he wrote a lengthy Instagram post about his own daughter, saying he 'will love and respect her unconditionally.' The rift with his father has resulted in Ingebrigtsen essentially being self-coached for the past three years of his career, though he does lean on his brothers, both experienced and decorated distance athletes in their own right, for guidance. Such an approach is unusual among top athletes, who would rely on a coach to arrange their training and racing schedules. 'We just want to remove the whole coach principle because that's not really an approach that we associate with,' says Ingebrigtsen. 'I think it's very important to understand what you're doing, and if you don't, then you only get this program from your coach (and) you're not really understanding what you're doing. 'Me, Henrik and Filip are coaching each other and discussing everything. We have a lot of knowledge and expertise between us, but still, we have different histories with different perspective, and also see things from a different point of view.' Despite his age, Ingebrigtsen has already established himself as one of the greatest middle-distance runners of all time, with multiple Olympic, world and European titles already to his name. He has, however, proven to be fallible, especially in such a competitive era for mile and 1,500-meter running. At last year's Paris Olympics, Ingebrigtsen experienced perhaps the most disappointing day of his career, leading a star-studded 1,500m field for most of the race before fading in the closing stages. He finished fourth, his title defense ending in tatters, but did bounce back to take 5,000m gold a few days later. That wasn't the first time that Ingebrigtsen has been outkicked and outmuscled at a major race. He was bested by Great Britain's Jake Wightman in the 1,500m at the 2022 World Athletics Champions, then again by another Brit, Josh Kerr, in the same race the following year. The rivalry between Ingebrigtsen and Kerr has spilled into a war of words in recent years, roughly dating back to when the former claimed to have been under the weather during the 2023 world championships. Kerr has since aimed jabs at his rival's ego, while Ingebrigtsen claimed last year that he could beat Kerr blindfolded in the 3,000 meters. The pair have not met on the track since last year's Olympics, with Kerr – along with Americans Cole Hocker and Yared Nuguse – signing up to race in Michael Johnson's Grand Slam Track league. Ingebrigtsen says that he has been watching some of those races from back home in Norway – Kerr won one of the three meets and finished second in another – but without reading too much into the results. 'Of course, I'm very focused on my own training and my own bubble at the moment, but I think the more competition, the better,' he says. 'I'm a big competitor and a big fan of competitions, I think that's what drives the sport forward. 'Ultimately, I think that the most important thing is that they (his rivals) have fun with doing what they're doing. At the same time, it's very difficult to kind of compare anything and pull and conclude anything out of the performances. If it's fun, then it's fun, and I think that's the most important thing for them.' It's hard to believe, given the fierce competitor inside him, that Ingebrigtsen wasn't watching those Grand Slam Track races with just a bit of envy. He says that he dialed back his training so as not to risk 'a serious and career-threatening injury' further down the line, but is still hopeful of making a return soon. At the world championships in Tokyo, he will be out to prove that his performance at the Olympics was nothing more than a minor blip. 'For me, I always try to improve,' says Ingebrigtsen. 'I always try to run a little bit faster, do things differently to see if we get a better result. Ultimately, you will at some point find the limits … That's just a part of developing.'
