Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the double Olympic champion, has issued a partial apology for labelling his competitors “losers” and “cowards” following a heated men’s 1500m Diamond League final on Friday.
The Norwegian athlete continues to defend his accusation of cowardice directed at Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker. According to Ingebrigtsen, Hocker had requested a fast pace and introduced his own pacemaker, only to later position himself behind other runners during the race.
In a statement released on Saturday, Ingebrigtsen, who finished fourth behind Australia’s Cameron Myers in a close finish with a time of 3min 30.52sec, said: “I shouldn’t have called anyone losers. I apologise for that. It was beneath me, regardless of the adrenaline and emotions. But I stand by what I said about Cole and his team acting cowardly.
They informed the other athletes and the organisers that they were aiming for a specific pace and were bringing in their own pacemaker to set that pace, but then they did something completely different. When you promise the crowd a fast race, you have a responsibility to follow through. This isn’t about me losing. I wasn’t good enough. It’s about taking responsibility for the commitments you’ve made to the meeting organisers, the crowd and your competitors.”
Ingebrigtsen, who resumed racing in August after an 11-month absence due to an achilles sheath injury, followed the pacemakers himself after no other competitors joined them.
Despite recording a season’s best time, he was openly critical of his own performance, describing it as “shitty, terrible and extremely disappointing,” before turning his attention to his fellow racers.
On Saturday, Ingebrigtsen stated that he had spoken with Hocker after the race and that the issue had been resolved. However, the dispute resurfaced when Hocker’s agent, Ray Flynn, accused Ingebrigtsen of complaining. In an email to the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet, Flynn wrote: “Jakob now appears as a whiny runner who blames others. It is embarrassing to see a great champion complain and blame other runners when he doesn’t win. It is completely disrespectful to his competitors, who now regularly beat him in the 1500 metres.”
Ingebrigtsen responded by defending his broader comments as beneficial to the sport. “Cole and I talked it through after the race. As far as we’re concerned, the matter is settled, so I don’t really understand why his agent is getting involved in all of this now. If you’re not allowed to show a bit of passion after a race, you should find a sport that doesn’t want an audience.”
The two athletes could meet again next week at the Ultimate Championships in Budapest, where Ingebrigtsen is scheduled to compete in the 1500m and 5,000m. According to Dagbladet, he is now expected to focus solely on the 5,000m.
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