BUDAPEST: Jakob Ingebrigtsen on Saturday said he's withdrawing from the 1,500-meter race at track's Ultimate Championship, depriving the sport of a marquee showdown in wake of the Norwegian's most recent round of bickering with top rivals Cole Hocker and Josh Kerr. Ingebrigtsen made the announcement less than 24 hours after beating Hocker in the 5,000 meters to take the $150,000 top prize on the championship's opening night. Ingebrigtsen is coming back from Achilles surgery in February and said running two races in the span of three days was simply too much.
"I would love for it to be a little bit different and be a little bit sharper in terms of recovery," he said on social media. "But coming from a very difficult last two years with injury problems and Achilles surgery, I'm forced to be more sensible than I would like to be."
Ingebrigtsen and Kerr have been arguing among themselves for three years now, with Hocker recently getting into the mix. Every time they step onto the track to let their running do the talking, it's unpredictable, with five different winners in the last five major championships (Ingebrigtsen, Jake Wightman, Kerr, Hocker and Isaac Nader.) The next chapter takes place Sunday, but it will go on without Ingebrigtsen, who said he's thinking about 2027.
"Fitness cannot be faked," he said. "It's about doing the work every day, showing off the training. Just looking back, a short time ago, it's unbelievable we've been able to get this far in 2026." Here's a brief timeline of track's best soap opera, starting with the most recent development.
Hocker has been trying to move on. Asked if he respected Ingebrigtsen or thought Ingebrigtsen respected him, Hocker said, "I'm not going to try to guess what he thinks of us." "I think everyone on the start line for a global final deserves a lot of respect and you can have opinions on the race and how it goes," Hocker said.
