Whispers of a world record were ten a penny ahead of the penultimate Wanda Diamond League meeting of the season in Brussels on Friday, but in the end, only one man delivered on the promise to make history at the Allianz Memorial Van Damme.
Yaroslava Mahuchikh, Mondo Duplantis and Shericka Jackson had all flirted with the idea of a world record at the pre-meeting press conference on Thursday, but it was Jakob Ingebrigtsen who ended up making history on the new track in Brussels.
In this week's OMEGA Moment of the Meeting, the Norwegian strolled to a comfortable victory in the men's 2000m, obliterating a world record which had previously stood since 1999 in the process. As he crossed the line official Wanda Diamond League timekeeper OMEGA clocked the result at 4:43.13, more than 1.5 seconds faster than Hicham El Guerrouj's previous mark.
"It´s always fun to break a record," said Ingebrigtsen, who had never broken an official world record outdoors before Brussels. "This one qualifies as a world record and not as a world best. I knew I was able to break this one, but I had some kind of virus ten days ago and I didn´t really know how I would be feeling today. However I felt really good and ran a good race.
"To be honest this record wasn´t a difficult one for me. Sure, when you have to do it alone, it´s really tough, but I got great help from the pacemakers," he added.
Following his surprise defeat to Josh Kerr in the 1500m World Athletics Championships final in Budapest last month, the performance was also a welcome return to winning form for the reigning Olympic and Diamond League champion.
The Norwegian now heads to Eugene for the Wanda Diamond League Final next weekend, where he hopes to defend his Diamond Trophy and end the season on a high with a global title.
