Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.
Jakob Ingebrigtsen has hit back at Josh Kerr’s suggestion that the Norwegian would be “a deer on ice” running 800m, saying he doesn’t take the British world champion seriously.
Ingebrigtsen, 24, won 5,000m gold at the Paris 2024 Olympics but missed out on a medal in defence of his 1,500m crown as Cole Hocker, Kerr and Yared Nuguse surged past him in the home straight.
The pair have held a long-running feud which was reignited in December when Ingebrigtsen expressed his doubt that rivals including Kerr would be able to compete at cross country after romping to a third European title. “If you don’t feel like you can perform, you won’t do it,” he said. “The people that aren’t here are most likely not able to perform in different races.”
Kerr responded this week with his own jibe, suggesting Ingebrigtsen won’t be participating in the new Grand Slam Track event because he wasn’t comfortable running 800m, as he would have to in the unusual format devised by Michael Johnson.
“If he was in the 800/1500 group, watching him run the 800 would be like a deer on ice,” Kerr told the Citius Magazine podcast.
But Ingebrigtsen hit back once more, telling Norway’s TV2: “The day he contributes to the race for world records, I will take him seriously. But only then.”
It was recently confirmed that Ingebrigtsen’s father, Gjert, will stand trial in 2025 after being accused of mental, physical and verbal abuse of Jakob and brothers Henrik and Filip.
Gjert Ingebrigtsen denies the allegations.