Jakob Ingebrigtsen has revealed his bold goal heading into 2026 – to break three world records.
Middle-distance star Ingebrigtsen endured an injury-hit 2025, battling a right achilles tendon injury suffered in May that put his World Athletics Championship hopes in doubt. Although he ultimately made it to the start line in Tokyo, he failed to advance beyond the first round of the 1500m and finished tenth in the 5000m final.
The Norwegian’s year had started well, setting a world record in the short-track mile at a February meeting in France and carrying that form into the indoor season – completing the distance double (1500m and 3000m) for the third time at the European Indoors and then doing likewise at the World Indoors over the same distances. He became just the second man, after Haile Gebrselassie, to win two golds at the same World Indoor Championships.
However, the achilles issue caused him to postpone an altitude training camp and he then skipped the 2025 Diamond League season in its entirety.
But now the 25-year-old is dreaming big – aiming to break three world records once the calendar flips to 2026, and even eyeing up the best locations to do so.
“This year I laid a good foundation for an incredibly good comeback with a couple of world records next season,” Ingebrigtsen told Norwegian outlet VG, with a smile.
“I hope to take the world record over 1500m, the 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 them.
“Elisabeth [his wife] and I have started looking at the dates. 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 as well. It's always something I look forward to.”
Ingebrigtsen has previously stated his ambition to set 10 outdoor world records throughout his career and currently holds three – 2000m, 3000m and two miles (3,218m).
Of his 2026 triple ambition, the 5000m may prove to be the hardest with Ingebrigtsen’s current personal best of 12:48.45 more than 13 seconds slower than Joshua Cheptegei’s world record of 12:35.36 set in 2020.
The great Hicham El Guerrouj holds the other two records, with his 1500m mark of 3:26.00 exactly having stood since 1998, although the Norwegian’s PB is only 0.73s outside that. El Guerrouj ran a mile in 3:43.13 back in 1999, while Ingebrigtsen’s best over the iconic distance is not too far behind – at 3:26.73.
There is no global athletics championships in 2026 but the European Championship will take place in Birmingham in August, while World Athletics have created the new, big-money Ultimate Championships for the following months to try and drive interest in a down year.
