Jakob Ingebrigtsen to run Euro Cross in Portugal

Norwegian hopes to end injury-hit year by winning his fourth senior title at the December 14 event in Lagoa.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen endured a frustrating summer. Struggling with Achilles problems, he was unable to race on the Diamond League circuit and was eliminated in the 1500m heats at the World Championships in Tokyo before finishing an underpar 10th in the 5000m final.

He has clearly got back into better training this autumn, though, as he has been named in the Norway team for the European Cross Country Championships in Lagoa, Portugal on December 14.

Currently the Olympic 5000m champion is preparing at altitude in Sierra Nevada and according to videos on his social media channels he has been carefully stepping up his harder sessions while trying not to aggravate his Achilles again. He has also had his tonsils removed recently in order to minimise the chances of falling ill at crucial periods in future.

If he wins gold in Portugal, the 25-year-old will become just the third four-time winner of the senior men’s race in Euro Cross history after Ukraine’s Sergiy Lebid and Portugal’s Paulo Guerra, the winners of nine and four senior titles respectively.

In total, Ingebrigtsen has won seven individual titles at the Euro Cross. He won four successive under-20 golds between 2016-2019 and then bypassed the under-23 age group by winning his first senior crown in 2021.

Ingebrigtsen’s 2025 campaign got off to a great start with 1500m and 3000m victories at the European and world indoor championships, plus world 1500m (3:29.63) and mile (3:45.14) records.