The most anticipated race of Thursday’s Diamond League in Oslo is definitely the men’s 1,500 meters, for which the Olympic champion by Jakob Ingebrigtsen no fewer than five 3.30 and eight 3.31 underdogs start in the lead.
But sensationally, Ingebrigtsen is not the last name of the Norwegian miler entering the competition with the fastest statistical time. Representing the same Sandnes IL club Narve Gilde Nordås, 24, continued his fairy-tale season on June 10 in Montesson, France, by running a world record four-time 3:32.49. It meant that at that time, in exactly three weeks, he had improved his record by 3.84 seconds.
– After the brothers, I have been the Norwegian Four for some time. It felt really good to get closer to their records, Nordås, who was preparing for the Diamond League in Oslo, told Urheilu on Tuesday.
Although he is ahead of Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the season’s outdoor track statistics, the ruler of the distance already ran a mind-blowing time of 3:32.38 in hall conditions in this year’s indoor track season.
With his record, Nordås is now 147th of all time in the world statistics. Jakob’s record of 3:28.32 is enough for 8th, Philip’s (3:30,01) 39th and Henrik (3:31,46), who is currently responsible for coordinating the training of the brother series, instead of 93rd in the all-time world statistics.
Waiting for the beginning of 3.27
Nordås estimates that Jakob will improve his record to 3.27 starting numbers on Thursday.
– My own capacity could be enough for the final time starting at 3:31, if the structure of the run works.
Last week, Jakob Ingebrigtsen crushed the rarely run two mile or 3218 meter ME in Paris with 7:54.10.
Nordås has practically secured his place on the Norwegian World Cup team in Budapest. In the past, he has represented Norway without much success in the prestigious races at his old main distance of 5000 meters.
The scene behind Norway’s top runners is currently at least interesting. Nordås comes from the vicinity of the Ingebrigtsens’ hometown Sandnes in Rogaland county. The area is special in that it mainly produces athletes in summer sports, as it is the snowiest in Norway.
He initially practiced sprinting in a local club, but joined in 2014 by Gjert Ingebrigtsen to coach the middle and endurance training group, which he has been part of for nine years now. Then he also got to know the brothers and knows them well.
– We trained in the same group from 2014 to 2021. We are not friends, but fellow athletes, but there is nothing wrong with the relationship.
A kept secret
Everything changed when, completely unexpectedly, in the middle of the 2021-2022 training season, the brothers decided to cut off all cooperation with their father. The official explanation was Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s work exhaustion, but only those involved know the final truth behind it. In Norway, the real reason has been speculated to be events within the family that led to a total rift.
Suddenly, Narve Gilde Nordås found himself the only top runner in Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s reduced group. At the same time, the interests of the media approaching him also changed.
– I have to talk about this every time I talk to a journalist in Norway in general. I understand that the matter is of interest and the situation may seem special.
Nordås does not want to speculate on the reasons for the breakup between the father and the boys, who each achieved the gold in the competition.
– I know that in elite sports, a long and intense coaching relationship can become very tense. The life of a middle-distance runner is tough if you want to reach the top.
Nordås has nothing bad to say about Gjert Ingebrigtsen, and the results speak for themselves.
– Gjert is very demanding and very direct and honest. He sincerely wants to develop his athletes and demands full commitment from them.
Threshold training in honor
Father Ingebrigtsen is known as a coach who believes in so-called threshold training. Then you run at or just below the lactate threshold – so that the body still removes lactate as much as it produces it. With the help of successful threshold training, an athlete can, for example, be sharp and efficient even in a fast-paced 1,500-meter run, when the positions start to be decided after 1,200 meters.
– Threshold training is the key to everything from October to May.
Nordås is focusing on 1,500 meters this season, but there is also a return to the old main distance of 5,000 meters.
– According to the points table, the 1,500-meter time I’m running now would correspond to a meager 13 minutes under 5,000 meters, which is also one of my goals, says Nordås, who has competed in Finland once, in 2021 in Lahti.