Jakob Ingebrigtsen sends Josh Kerr message in statement 1,500m victory at European Championships

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Andrew Feinberg

White House Correspondent

Norway's Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the 1,500 metres in Rome on Wednesday for a record sixth European Championship gold.

The 23-year-old charged down the final metres and was all by himself when he crossed the finish in 3:31.95, a championship record, to become the most decorated male athlete ever in the continental championship.

Belgian Jochem Vermeulen took the second spot on the podium in 3:33.30 while Italian Pietro Arese was third in 3:33.34.

"Today it's about winning. At the same time, I'm looking for answers in every single question I'm asked. Today I got a lot of good answers," he told a Norwegian broadcaster.

Ingebrigtsen is expected to form one of the most compelling rivalries of this year's Paris Olympics against Briton Josh Kerr, who denied him the gold in Budapest last year.

Ingebrigtsen hurled himself over the finish to win last month's Oslo Diamond League meet, after finishing second to Kerr over the mile race days earlier at the Prefontaine Classic.

In the women's long jump, Olympic champion Malaika Mihambo of Germany produced the second-best jump of her career, soaring to a world-leading 7.22m to take home her second European gold medal.

"The 7.22m was close to a perfect jump, I hit the board well. But the headwind was disturbing, so the result could have been even better," Mihambo said.

Armand Duplantis continued his impressive form ahead of his Olympic pole vault title defence by winning his third European gold but the Swede fell short in another bid to break his own world record of 6.24m.

The 24-year-old clinched victory with 5.97m before clearing 6.10m to set a championship record. He then had the bar raised to 6.25m but failed to clear it.

Hosts Italy won the men's 4x100m, with Olympic champion Lamont Marcell Jacobs adding to his win in the 100m on Saturday.

Reuters