Ingebrigtsen appeared on course for victory for much of the men’s 1500m final but faded in the closing stages as Australia’s Cameron Myers produced a perfectly timed late burst to claim the Diamond League title.
Myers held his nerve in a tightly contested finish to win in 3:30.14, edging Kenya’s Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech by just four hundredths of a second. America’s Ethan Strand finished third in 3:30.50, with Ingebrigtsen two hundredths further back in fourth in 3:30.52.
The result marked another difficult outing for Ingebrigtsen as he continues his return to competition after undergoing Achilles surgery in February. The Norwegian dictated much of the pace and appeared to be in contention for a morale-boosting victory, but he could not hold off the chasing pack over the final 30 metres.
Myers waited for his opportunity before making his move down the home straight.
“I’m pretty relieved to be honest! It’s nice to get a win, I’m super pumped,” Myers said after the race. “I was feeling good. I contemplated making a move on the back straight but I didn’t really need to, so I just waited as long as possible and a gap opened up and I was able to take it.”
Ingebrigtsen, however, was left furious with the way the race had unfolded.
“They want to run in a queue and hide themselves tonight, so that is what it is. I’m not a hider myself,” Ingebrigtsen said.
“The pacer did a pretty bad job, unfortunately, pulling me off the Wavelight and off the pace. I didn’t necessarily want to find myself in that position.”
Ingebrigtsen then turned his attention to the pacemaking strategy involving American Cole Hocker, who finished eighth in 3:30.80.
“Cole, he got the pacemaker changed and swapped to his own teammate on behalf of a French pacer. Everybody thought he was forcing himself to follow the pacemaker, but that was just a trick. He fooled all of us. He decided to hide behind everyone else,” Ingebrigtsen said.
The Norwegian was particularly critical of the tactics employed by his rivals, saying he had wanted to race at a different pace and did not feel physically strong enough to run the way the race eventually unfolded.
The frustration boiled over when Ingebrigtsen spoke to reporters in the mixed zone.
“I’m very disappointed in the race and the result, I’m racing against a bunch of cowards. That is what it is,” he said.
“It’s only Cameron [Myers] that’s a good racer, everyone else looked like losers, me included.”
Ingebrigtsen again singled out the pacemaking decision involving Hocker and Christian Jackson, who trains alongside the American.
“We’re trying to win but with Cole, the pacemaker was swapped out for his own teammate. So from now on he is in no position to make any changes or decisions in the 1500m because he fooled us in terms of following the pace,” Ingebrigtsen said.
“Maybe he was sick or injured, or he didn’t have a good day at all.”
For Myers, the victory continued his rapid rise in the 1500m. The 20-year-old had already smashed the Australian national record when he won at the Paris Diamond League in June, and he now has a Diamond League final title to add to his growing list of achievements.
“It’s pretty cool memorabilia to have a trophy like that,” Myers said of the title.
Ingebrigtsen, meanwhile, will leave Brussels with plenty to work on as he continues his comeback. The Olympic champion may have missed out on the title, but his post-race comments ensured the 1500m final became one of the biggest talking points of the opening night of the Diamond League final.
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