Jakob Ingebrigtsen Issues Partial Apology After Diamond League Clash

Double Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen has issued a partial apology following a contentious men's 1500m Diamond League final on Friday, according to The Guardian.

After finishing fourth behind Cameron Myers of Australia with a time of 3min 30.52sec, Ingebrigtsen initially described his fellow competitors as "losers" and a "bunch of cowards." In a statement released Saturday, Ingebrigtsen apologized for the specific use of the word "losers," stating the comment was "beneath me" regardless of his emotional state.

However, Ingebrigtsen continues to accuse Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker and his team of acting "cowardly." As reported by The Guardian, Ingebrigtsen alleges that Hocker's team committed to a specific pace and provided their own pacemaker, but then failed to follow through, which he claims is a breach of responsibility to the crowd, organizers, and competitors.

While Ingebrigtsen claims he and Hocker settled the matter in a private conversation after the race, the conflict escalated when Hocker's agent, Ray Flynn, emailed the Norwegian newspaper Dagbladet. Flynn described Ingebrigtsen as a "whiny runner" and stated it was "embarrassing" for a champion to blame others when he does not win.

Ingebrigtsen responded by questioning why Flynn was involved and argued that showing passion is necessary for a sport to maintain an audience. While the two could have met again next week at the Ultimate Championships in Budapest, Dagbladet reports that Ingebrigtsen will likely focus only on the 5,000m rather than the 1500m.