Ingebrigtsen at the double as Charlton shines at world indoors

Jakob Ingebrigtsen claimed a rare track double to light up the world indoor championships on Sunday, as Devynne Charlton defended her 60m hurdles title in style.

Ingebrigtsen, who had won the 3,000m on Saturday for his first world indoor title, clocked 3min 38.79sec to win the 1,500m and emulate the double claimed by Ethiopian legend Haile Gebrselassie in Maebashi in 1999.

The Norwegian, however, insisted that he had not been motivated by history, saying Gebrselassie’s feat had been achieved “a long time ago”.

“Following in the footsteps? Can we say that? Probably not,” he said. “It would be difficult to follow in the footsteps. I think they’re probably not that visible anymore.

“It’s very difficult to compare history.”

The victory also meant Ingebrigtsen finally bagged a world title over the 1,500m, having already won three silvers (two outdoor, one indoor).

Charlton later stormed to a brilliant defence of her short hurdles title, the world record holder from the Bahamas timing 7.72sec for the win in a close finish.

“It was a big deal for me to come here and show up, defend my title. It was a big goal for me,” said Charlton, with the next five finishers all streaming across the line within four-hundredths of a second.

“The women always show up in track and field,” she added. “To come away with a win against these ladies, it’s really cool.”

Charlton, who set a world record of 7.65sec when winning in Glasgow last year, was followed home by Switzerland’s Ditaji Kambundji, whose sister Mujinga won the 60m flat in the Chinese city.

– Superb Skotheim –

Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay defended her 1,500m title with some brio, a solo run seeing her come home in a championship record of 3:54.86, not off her own world record.

Tsegay’s teammate Diribe Welteji claimed silver with Britain’s Georgia Hunter Bell in bronze.

American Josh Hoey, second in the all-time list behind Wilson Kipketer, blasted to victory in the men’s 800m in 1:44.77 to underline his promise in a season that culminates at the world outdoor championships in Tokyo in September.

Hoey was pushed all the way and won just four-hundredths ahead of Belgium’s Eliott Crestan, with Spain’s Elvin Josue Canales taking third place.

The four-lap race for the women was won in a world lead of 1:58.40 by surprise South African package Prudence Sekgodiso ahead of Ethiopian Nigist Getachew and Portgual’s Patricia Silva.

The field events saw Italian Mattia Furlani upgrade his Glasgow long jump silver to gold with a best effort of 8.30m, just 2cm separating him from Jamaican silver medallist Wayne Pinnock and Australian Liam Adcock.

Defending champion Miltiadis Tentoglou of Greece, the double Olympic gold medallist and world outdoor champion, finished fifth with 8.14m in his thus far unusually faltering season.

New Zealand’s Tom Walsh will take the men’s shot put gold home after winning with a best of 21.65m ahead of the US pair of Roger Skeen and Adrian Piperi.

Norway’s Sander Skotheim claimed gold in the men’s heptathlon, having accumulated 6,475 points to finish 38pts ahead of Estonia’s Johannes Erm, with Germany’s Till Steinforth taking bronze.

Skotheim opened with 6.97sec in the 60m before managing bests of 8m in the long jump, 14.68m in the shot put and 2.13m in the high jump.

The Norwegian then clocked 7.93sec in the 60m hurdles, went over 5m in the pole vault and timed 2:36.08 in the thigh-busting 1km finale.

The US men and women’s 4x400m relay teams wrapped up the three days of action in Nanjing’s Cube with double gold to leave the Americans atop the medal table with 16 (six gold, four silver, six bronze) as a total of 32 nations medalled.