The family relations of Norway’s athletics elite seem to have irretrievably broken. Ingebrigtsen’s the running brothers that is Jakob, Philip and Henrik have a very contentious relationship with their father by Gjert Ingebrigtsen and this to be coached Narve Gilje Nordåsin with.
On Thursday, the three brothers came out with harsh accusations. The brothers blame the Norwegian media in Verdens Gang his father and former coach for violent behavior.
– We grew up with a father who was very aggressive, controlling and used physical violence and threats, Henrik, Jakob and Filip tell the Norwegian media.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen denies the claims made by his sons.
– I have never used physical violence towards my children, Gjert Ingebrigtsen tells VG through his lawyer.
Ingebrigtsen’s family has been stirred up in Norway and in the Norwegian sports media for almost a couple of years now. According to VG, the situation escalated last summer in connection with the World Athletics Championships and has resurfaced in recent weeks.
We gathered the turning points around the Ingebrigtsens
Spring 2022: Cross the gaps
According to coach father Gjert Ingebrigtsen, the quarrels had already started long before the coaching cooperation with the boys ended in early 2022. The public was first told that Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s work exhaustion was the reason. In Norway, however, it has since been speculated that events within the family have ultimately led to a total break.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen opened up about the family’s inflamed relationship on the Skyld og Skam podcast this fall.
– The problems were ignored when we just continued forward. There is no time to think about how serious and how deep the wounds are. Suddenly you notice that you are full of wounds, Gjert Ingebrigtsen described.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen apologized to his wife and the mother of his seven children, From Toneregretting that his extreme training method has had a strong effect on the whole family.
When the brothers left slamming the doors, Narve Gilje Nordås stayed with his long-time coach’s team. He has had nothing bad to say about Gjert Ingebrigtsen, but describes his controversial coach as unpretentious.
– Gjert is very demanding and very direct and honest. He sincerely wants to develop his athletes and demands full commitment from them, Nordås told Urheilu in June 2023.
The oldest of the brothers, Henrik, has acted as his brothers’ coach in addition to his own running career for the past couple of seasons.
January 2023: Reunion in Spain
Narve Gilje Nordås, who won bronze in the 1,500-meter World Championship final in Budapest, has been training under Gjert Ingebrigtsen since 2014. So Nordås trained together with the brothers for years and knows them well.
Since Gjert Ingebrigtsen is still coaching Nordås, the brothers’ and father’s paths will inevitably cross on competitive trips. Narve Gilje Nordås is more of a surrogate sufferer in a non-family case.
NRK reported last week that Narve Gilje Nordås and Henrik Ingebrigtsen clashed at the January mountain camp in the Sierra Nevada.
The champion coach who was at the camp Knut Jæger Hansen tells NRK, that Henrik Ingebrigtsen rudely told Nordås to move elsewhere in the dining area for the Norwegian national team athletes. Before what happened, Nordås had sat at the table and had a friendly conversation with other campers, including Filip Ingebrigtsen.
According to Hansen, those who witnessed the event were confused, as Nordås had not behaved provocatively in any way.
– In my opinion, this level of bullying and harassment cannot be accepted under any circumstances. I discussed it with Henrik, and he thought the space was given to him and he was just trying to be clear. I didn’t see it that way myself. You just can’t talk to others in that tone, Hansen said.
NRK reported last week that the Norwegian Athletics Federation was notified of Henrik Ingebrigtsen’s inappropriate behavior towards Nordås. According to Hansen, Ingebrigtsen did not receive a warning or other punishment and has not apologized for his behavior.
Despite the disputes, especially the youngest parties involved, 23-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen and 25-year-old Narve Gilje Nordås, are running. Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the reigning Olympic champion of the ton vitos and world champion of the vitos. Henrik and Filip are the European champions of middle distance running, although in recent years they have been overshadowed by their younger brother.
Nordås has emerged as one of Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s toughest challengers with a ton win. He improved his ton vitos record last summer by almost seven seconds with a time of 3:29.47.
August 2023: WC bronze without a coach
The Norwegian Athletics Federation did not apply for accreditation for Gjert Ingebrigtsen for the World Championships in Budapest in August, even though Nordås, which he coached, competed there. The sensational win at the World Championship bronze raised Nordås’ star status as an athlete.
For example Iltalehti said in Augustthat Jakob Ingebrigtsen had informed the Norwegian Athletics Federation that if his father received accreditation, he would not run in the World Championships.
Chairman of the Athletics Federation Anne Farseth denied, that Jakob Ingebrigtsen would have influenced the union’s decision. Later, he clarified that Jakob Ingebrigtsen was not involved in deciding on the rejection of his father’s accreditation, but Ingebrigtsen’s brothers were consulted on the matter.
Nordås lived at the World Cup in a different hotel than the rest of the national team in order to be closer to his coach.
– I hope that people can travel to the games and live under the same roof without the atmosphere being so uncomfortable and tense that they almost can’t even be in the same stadium, Nordås told NRK.
October 2023: Going to camp in increasingly cooler conditions
Last week, the Norwegian Athletics Federation boat, that it will not apply for Gjert Ingebrigtsen’s accreditation for next spring’s World Championships or this summer’s European Championships. The association also does not propose Ingebrigtsen as an accredited coach for the Paris Olympics.
– There was no discussion about the matter, but I heard about the decision ten minutes before I read about it in the media, Nordås said.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen wondered why the matter was decided so early before the start of the new competition season.
– The Norwegian Athletics Federation does not feel that it will be able to resolve the issue by next summer. I wish we could deal with each other professionally and do our work, said Gjert Ingebrigtsen.
Despite their cool relationship, the Ingebrigtsens and Nordås plan to leave at the end of October around the same time for a high-altitude camp in the already familiar Sierra Nevada mountains. Gjert Ingebrigtsen stays in Norway.
Manager at the event of the Norwegian national team Erlend Slokvik said, that both Ingebrigtsen’s and Nordås’s camps have hoped to be able to train in peace. The Norwegian Athletics Federation said it was trying to protect its star runners and isolate the training groups from each other.
Nordås clarified that he himself had not hoped not to have to face the brothers in Spain.
– We just wanted to inform (the union) where and when we train so they can avoid us. I have no need to avoid anyone, Nordås said.
They claim that their father used physical violence and threats as part of their upbringing.
– We grew up with a father who was very aggressive, controlling and used physical violence and threats. We still feel the discomfort and fear we have felt since childhood, Henrik, Jakob and Filip say in an open letter in VG magazine.
– Two years ago, it was enough for us. That’s when we decided to part with our father and it was also impossible for us to continue being coached by him.
According to the brothers, their point of view must now be told.
– Telling such things hurts in many ways, because everything affects a person who meant so much to us and our career, says the trio.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen denies the claims made by his sons. He wants to emphasize that he is not violent by nature.
– Their statements are unfounded. I have never used physical violence towards my children, says Gjert Ingebrigtsen in the Norwegian media through his lawyer.
Gjert says he is very sorry that the family’s quarrels are now being played out in public.
– It is tragic that we spread false accusations about each other through the media. I am deeply unhappy. I don’t know how we will get through this, but we have to try, Gjert describes.
The brothers have asked that the country’s athletics federation not put them in future situations where it would be possible for them to face their father.