Olympic 1,500-meter champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen smashed a 24-year-old world record in the rarely run 2,000 meters by more than a second on Friday.
The Norwegian finished in 4 minutes, 43.13 seconds at a Diamond League meet in Brussels.
Making his first appearance since last month’s world championships, the 22-year-old Norwegian improved the previous mark of 4:44.79 set in 1999 by Moroccan great Hicham El Guerrouj.
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“It’s always fun to break a record but, to be honest, it wasn’t difficult for me to break this one,” Ingebrigtsen said.
The 2,000 is not part of the Olympics Games program.
Also, Jamaica sprint ace Shericka Jackson failed in her attempt at the women’s 200 world record set 35 years ago by Florence Griffith-Joyner.
Jackson, the reigning world champion, clocked 21.48. Griffith-Joyner’s mark of 21.34 was set at the Seoul Olympics in 1988.
Jackson got off to a fast start and never looked back to outclass her rivals. Anthonique Strachan was a distant runner-up, with a time of 22.31, with American Jenna Prandini completing the podium in 22.47.
Originally a 400 specialist, Jackson has been focusing on sprint in recent years. She won Olympic 100 bronze and 4x100m relay gold at the Tokyo Olympics and has been excelling in the 200.
The 29-year-old athlete claimed gold in the 200 at the 2022 worlds and retained her title last month in Budapest, Hungary, when she posted a time of 21.41 seconds, a scant .07 off the world record.
Already renowned for being fast, the King Baudouin stadium track was renovated ahead of the Memorial Van Damme meet.
Swedish pole vaulter Armand Duplantis set a new meet record by clearing 6.10 meters in the men’s pole vault but could not improve his own world record. He failed to clear 6.23 in his third and final attempt.
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