Jakob Ingebrigtsen Runs 3:45.14 Indoor Mile to Break Yared Nuguse’s Five-Day-Old World Record

Yared Nuguse’s reign as indoor mile world record holder lasted just five days. As soon as Nuguse crossed the finish line at the Millrose Games in New York on Saturday in 3:46.63, shaving .38 off Yomif Kejelcha’s world record, there was a sense that his mark might already be on borrowed time. That was because Jakob Ingebrigtsen was taking his own shot at the mile on Thursday in Lievin, France. And when the 24-year-old Norwegian takes aim at a world record, he rarely misses.

Ingebrigtsen hit the bullseye at the 2025 Meeting Hauts-de-France Pas-de-Calais, blasting a 3:45.14 to obliterate Nuguse’s record. In addition, Ingebrigtsen’s 1500m split of 3:29.63 made him the first man under 3:30 indoors, breaking his own world record of 3:30.60 from this meet in 2022 (organizers had timing equipment at the 1500m mark to make the split official). Two world records in under four minutes. Not a bad night’s work.

Given Ingebrigtsen has run 3:43.73 outdoors and, unlike last year, did not experience any hiccups in his winter base training, many expected him to take the record tonight. What impressed was how simple Ingebrigtsen made it all seem. Set pacing lights to world record pace. Follow them precisely while being led out by rabbits Filip Sasinek and Pieter Sisk. Pick up the pace a hair once Sisk steps off at 1k. Kick on the last lap. Presto, world record. That is exactly how you draw it up.

Ingebrigtsen’s 100m splits (h/t Jordan Donnelly)
14.15
14.07 (28.22)
14.13
14.04 (28.17)
13.90
14.18 (28.28)
14.03
14.05 (28.08)
13.88
14.06 (27.94)
14.03
13.87 (27.90)
13.84
13.84 (27.68)
13.56
15.51 (29.07, 109m)

This was a lesson in brutal efficiency, one made possible by Ingebrigtsen’s supreme aerobic capacity and the metronomic pacing of the Wavelight system on the inside of lane 1. Ingebrigtsen ran between 13.84 and 14.18 for his first 14 100m segments, which took him to the bell just ahead of the lights. He picked it up slightly to get under the 1500 record, and held on from there to break the mile mark, closing in 55.49 for the last 400 and 27.83 for his last lap (his final 109m split of 15.51 is 14.23 100m pace, which would have been his slowest 100m split of the race). It all added up to a world record, though Ingebrigtsen said it felt much harder than it looked.

“It’s very hard, you have to push all the time,” Ingebrigtsen said on the broadcast. “You have to be focused for the whole race. So it was tough. But of course it’s worth it when it goes like this.”

Nuguse and Ingebrigtsen’s dueling world records called to mind the 10-day period in 1981 in which Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett combined to break the outdoor mile record three times – and signalled that the men’s 1500 meters is well-positioned to retain its status as the most exciting event in track in 2025.

*Results with splits

Jakob Ingebrigtsen gets world records #5 and #6

Ingebrigtsen has set himself a target of breaking every world record from 1500 meters through the marathon. And while today’s race will not help toward that aim – Ingebrigtsen was talking about overall world records, not indoor-specific – it added to his growing resume of all-time best marks. Ingebrigtsen has now broken six world records across indoor/outdoor track (he’s broken the indoor 1500 twice) and said that of all of those marks, tonight’s run was “all the way up there, for sure.”

Going purely by quality of performance, that’s not really true. Ingebrigtsen has run much faster outdoors for both 1500 (3:26.73) and the mile (3:43.73), though neither of those times are world records. And of all Ingebrigtsen’s records, his 7:17.55 3k is the most impressive. 

But Ingebrigtsen may be relying on more subjective metrics. We’re sure it felt good for him to crush a record set by one of his rivals just a few days ago – in a race that his biggest rival Josh Kerr, whom Ingebrigtsen has criticized for not racing enough, had to scratch from due to illness. When Ingebrigtsen crossed the finish line tonight, he threw his right arm up in the shape of a number one, then used it to brush some imaginary dirt from his left shoulder. Even after his defeat in last year’s Olympic 1500m final, he does not lack for confidence.

If you needed further evidence, check out what Ingebrigtsen posted after the race on Instagram, which featured the following caption with a new self-bestowed nickname: “Sorry @yaredthegoose ! Looking forward to race you. Best, Jakgoat.”

MB: Jakob Ingebrigtsen isn’t lacking in confidence: “Sorry @yaredthegoose ! Looking forward to race you. Best, Jakgoat.”

 

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A post shared by Jakob A. Ingebrigtsen (@jakobing)

Jakob Ingebrigtsen’s world records

A terrific start for Jakob Ingebrigtsen…could 2025 be the year that the outdoor 1500/mile records finally fall?

Ingebrigtsen has run Lievin every year since 2021, apart from last year when he was dealing with an injury. His performance today was easily the fastest he has ever run at this meet. His 3:29.63 split was already almost a second faster than his previous best from 2022, and if you convert his 3:45.14 performance to a 1500, it looks even better.

3:45.14 is also faster than the 3:45.60 that Ingebrigtsen opened up with outdoors last year at the Prefontaine Classic on May 25.

All of which is to say that Ingebrigtsen is significantly fitter right now at 1500m than he ever has been at this point of the year. That has to be encouraging for Ingebrigtsen and could be a sign that Hicham El Guerrouj’s longstanding outdoor world records of 3:26.00 for 1500 and 3:43.13 for the mile may finally fall this summer.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen in Lievin, 2021-25

*converted from mile

How do Ingebrigtsen’s splits compare with Yared Nuguse’s 3:46.63?

Below are the splits for Nuguse’s 3:46.63 world record at Millrose and Ingebrigtsen’s 3:45.14 tonight.

The splits help tell the story of each race. Nuguse had no Wavelight and had competition for the win, with Hobbs Kessler finishing second just behind him in 3:46.90, so his splits were more uneven, with a slow early lap (28.94 for lap 2) and Nuguse slowing on laps 6 and 7 as the pacer dropped out and Nuguse readied himself for the final kick. Ingebrigtsen, meanwhile, was able to run more consistent splits thanks to the Wavelight and wanted to break the 1500m record as well, so he wound up kicking earlier and just holding on at the very end.

Was this the shortest gap ever between mile world records?

No. As mentioned above, Coe and Ovett traded off the outdoor world record three times in a 10-day span in 1981, including Ovett running 3:48.40 in Koblenz on August 26, only for Coe to answer back with a 3:47.33 two days later in Brussels. And Bring Back the Mile notes that indoors, the shortest mile WR duration is three days, with Oscar Hedlund running 4:18.8 on February 12, 1913, only for Abel Kiviat to break that record by running 4:18.2 on February 15.

Rest of Lievin: Laros, Hailu impress in 3000s; Holloway stays perfect in 60 hurdles

While his world record was the clear highlight of the meet, Jakob Ingebrigtsen was hardly the only big star competing in Lievin on Thursday. Both 3,000m races were loaded, and 19-year-old Niels Laros got a big win on the men’s side, running away from a field that included Hagos Gebrhiwet, Getnet Wale, and Samuel Tefera to win in a Dutch record of 7:29.49. 18-year-old Ethiopian Biniam Mehary, who was 6th in the Olympic 5,000 final last year, was 2nd in 7:29.99.

In the women’s 3,000, Ethiopia’s Gudaf Tsegay took a crack at Genzebe Dibaba’s world indoor record of 8:16.60 for the third year in a row. And for the third year in a row, she fell short. After narrow misses in 2023 (8:16.69 in Birmingham) and 2024 (8:17.11 in Lievin), Tsegay, the reigning world indoor silver medalist, was not even close in 2025 as she began to fall off the pace with three laps to go and would fade to 8:25.12.

Instead, Tsegay proved an effective pacer for her Ethiopian rival Freweyni Hailu, the reigning world indoor 1500 champion who ran 3:54 outdoors last year but wasn’t chosen for Ethiopia’s Olympic team, who stuck on Tsegay until just over 300m to go and kicked away to win in 8:19.98. That time moves her to #3 on the world all-time list, behind only Dibaba and Tsegay.

Olympic 10k silver medalist Nadia Battocletti was also in this race but finished a well-beaten 4th in 8:30.82, though the time was still a national record and 10-second personal best.

There were also big wins for Olympic 4th placer Diribe Welteji in the women’s 1500 (3:58.89), Eliott Crestan in the men’s 800 (1:44.81, holding off American Bryce Hoppel, who ran 1:44.98 for 2nd), world indoor champ Tsige Duguma in the women’s 800 (1:59.02) Erriyon Knighton in the 200 (20.54), and Grant Holloway in the 60 hurdles (7.36, improving his lifetime record to 67-0).

Full compiled results can be found here and World Athletics recap is here.

Talk about Jakob and the action on our world-famous messageboard / fan forum:

• Yared who? Jakob MF Ingebrigtsen DESTROYS Yared Nugue’s WR – 3:45.14!!
• Could Hocker have beat Jakob at Lievin?
• After Jakob’s WR, Hocker is still the favorite.
• Official Lievin 2025 Indoor Discussion Thread
• Jakob Ingebrigtsen will run 3:44.90 for a new Indoor Mile WR tomorrow, the pace is 2:34 through 1100m
• Jakob PEAKED in 2024
• Jakob Predictions at Lievin on 13th Feb
• Jakob Ingebrigtsen will run 3:44.90 for a new Indoor Mile WR tomorrow, the pace is 2:34 through 1100m
• Jakob Ingebrigtsen isn’t lacking in confidence: “Sorry @yaredthegoose ! Looking forward to race you. Best, Jakgoat.”