After an injury-plagued 2025 season, Norway’s Jakob Ingebrigtsen is planning a comprehensive assault on the record-books in 2026.
"I hope to take the world record in 1500m, mile and 5000m. If I can do that, I have to be satisfied. I have to look out for some events and dates where I can have the best chance of making some good attempts at it. Elisabeth [his wife] and I have started looking at the dates," said Ingebrigtsen, as reported by vg.no.
While his summer season was curtailed by injury, Ingebrigtsen was in prolific form indoors, breaking the world indoor mile record in Lievin with 3:45.14 and the 1500m record en route with 3:29.63, becoming the first athlete in history to break the 3:30-barrier indoors.
Ingebrigtsen also has ownership of the world outdoor 2000m (4:43.13) and 3000m (7:17.55) records as well as the world best over two miles (7:54.10) and the 25-year-old is already considering which races will be the most conducive to filling in some of the remaining gaps on his gleaming resume.
"Most of the tracks are good to run on, but all tracks can also have bad conditions. There will be a bit of bingo, but it is generally a bit safer further south in Europe. Monaco has been a very good race for many years, Paris is good. Silesia is very good. These are races I have looked forward to. And most likely Bislett. It's always something I look forward to,” Ingebrigtsen added.
Ingebrigtsen has approached Hicham El Guerrouj’s long-standing world records in the 1500m and mile, setting European records of 3:26.73 and 3:43.73 respectively - only 0.73 and 0.63 shy of the world records. His 5000m lifetime best of 12:48.45 - a European record at the time - dates back to 2021 but Ingebrigtsen has seldom contested the distance outside major championships since then.
Ingebrigtsen will also have aspirations of adding to his title haul at the 2026 European Athletics Championships in Birmingham from 10-16 August.
The Norwegian is already the most successful male athlete in championship history having won 1500/5000m doubles at the last three editions dating back to Berlin 2018 when he broke through onto the senior stage by seizing both titles at the age of 17.
Both events are shaping up to be among the most intriguing and eventful of the entire championships.
Ingebrigtsen is likely to face recently crowned world champion Isaac Nader and his long-time British foes Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr, as well as Niels Laros, in the 1500m while multiple European record-holder Andreas Almgren and world 10,000m champion Jimmy Gressier could be among his principal rivals for the 5000m.