Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen defended his European indoor 3,000-m title, securing his place as a double gold medalist at three back-to-back editions of the continental championships.
The athlete, who already won the 1,500 m last Mar 7, finished the 3,000 m category with a final time of 7:48.37, claiming his 17th European title across all events.
Making history at 24 years old, Ingebrigtsen tied the record for the most European indoor gold medals won by a male athlete with seven titles. The record was previously held by Soviet-Ukrainian Valeriy Borzov, who won 50-m and 60-m titles in the 1970s when the event was held annually.
In a social media post, he shared: “Never gets boring this! 🥇 Thanks for the support, everyone! Thanks to @apeldoorn_2025 🏟️ And congrats to @sanderskotheim , @henriette.jeager and @sondre_pv for bringing home the gold, silver and bronze medals to Norway (in) Heptathlon and the 400 m yesterday, and Pole Vault today. 💪🏼🇳🇴”
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Highlights of the race
Ingebrigtsen, a double Olympic champion and two-time world champion in the 5,000 m event, was happy to stay at the back of the pack as the race began with the pistol for the 15-lap event.
The Norwegian then increased the pace, taking the lead with Britain’s George Mills and Dutch teenager Niels Laros close behind him.
The first kilometre was slow, with the pack running close together. Mills then took the lead and picked up the pace while Sweden’s Andreas Almgren blocked Ingebrigtsen.
With seven laps remaining, no one tried to break away until Stefan Nillenssen sped ahead of Mills, Ingebrigtsen, and Almgren.
The race picked up with five laps to go as Mills pushed ahead. Ingebrigtsen took the lead with two and a half laps left.
Mills stayed close but faded in the last 100m, and Ingebrigtsen finished with ease, matching Borzov’s record. Mills earned silver with a final time of 7:49.41, while France’s Azeddine Habz took bronze, securing his second medal after a silver in the 1,500m.
