Jakob Ingebrigtsen breaks 26-year-old world best performance over two miles
The Olympic 1500m champion becomes the fastest man over the distance and just the second man to run 3,218m in under 8 minutes, clocking 7:54.10.
Athletics
There is a new fastest man in the world over the two-mile distance, and his name is Jakob Ingebrigtsen.
The Norwegian became just the second person ever to run the 3,218 metres in under eight minutes on Friday (9 June) at the Meeting de Paris athletics meet in Paris, France, as part of the Diamond League meeting being held in the French capital.
Ingebrigtsen completed the rarely-run race in 7 minutes 54.10 seconds, taking some four-and-a-half seconds off the previous world best performance (WBP) time held by Kenya's Daniel Komen.
The two-mile race is not a world record distance, and World Athletics only recognises a WBP in that distance.
Komen had been the only other person to have run the distance under eight minutes, with his time of 7:58.61 standing since July 1997.
Ingebrigtsen was helped with his pacing by Wavelight technology, which uses lights on the inside of the track to show the pace of the record in real time.
The new world best performance time is pending ratification by World Athletics.
Ingebrigtsen dominated the field, with Kenya's Ishmael Kipkurui finishing second in 8:09.23 and Kuma Girma of Ethiopia third in 8:10.34.
Speaking after the race, the Norwegian said: "Being able to make this record feels amazing. It is my first world best outdoors.
"The pace felt very smooth for me, coming out of the 1500m. I would say it was a good race. The public was amazing; without their help, it would have been more difficult. I was a bit surprised about the time in the end."