Jakob Ingebrigtsen is not repeating the old mistakes this season. He started his 2025 season with a 3:45.14 indoor mile world record, but that momentum did not last long. By April, Achilles’ problems began during training and forced him to step back for a while. Even so, he returned for the World Athletics Championships, even though he was not fully fit. And that affected his performance, as he missed the 1500m final. Now, with that experience behind him, he seems to be taking a more careful approach in 2026.

Five months into the season, he has not started racing yet, and the reason is clear. “I’m not committing to [racing]. I’m very much aware of what happened last year and I was in all of these races [and] everything went to s**t. That’s not a fun position to be in,” he stated in an interview with Runner’s World on May 14.

“Right now, my main goal is training and just making sure that everything is running smoothly and just being a little bit careful.”

The problem actually started as early as April 2025, when Jakob Ingebrigtsen first felt Achilles discomfort after his indoor peak. At that point, it was not a full stop, but it began to affect training. Through spring and mid-season, he kept training with adjustments, missing key meets like the Oslo Bislett Games and stepping away from major Diamond League racing.

By the time of the World Championships in Tokyo, Ingebrigtsen still tried to compete, but he was not at his best. In the 1500m, he was eliminated in the heats, and in the 5000m, he finished 10th.

After that, he took a break, but the issue did not fully disappear. The injury flared up again in January 2026, and he later said it became “100% necessary” to have surgery to remove scar tissue surrounding the paratenon. By February 2026, he underwent surgery. He later said, “The surgery went very smoothly and I’m relieved to have a clear path of recovery back to the start line after many months of uncertainty.” Even after that, he has not rushed into competition.

Since the surgery, he has been in a rebuild phase. By March 2026, he was already back to easy running, short distances, and controlled sessions. In April, he remained in light training mode with easy running, rehab drills, and light aerobic work, and missed participation in early Diamond League meetings to allow time to be spent on rehabbing the body.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen summed up his mindset clearly, saying, “I’m trying to train as much as I can and that’s the main focus right now. I am a competitor and of course, I’m going to compete once I’m ready for it. However, it’s not my main goal right now.”

But despite the setbacks, his goals for the 2026 season remain extremely high.

Despite not racing yet, Jakob Ingebrigtsen eyes big goals

With six European Championship gold medals, Jakob Ingebrigtsen already stands as the most successful male athlete in the history of the European Athletics Championships. He has dominated both the 1500m and 5000m across multiple editions, including his breakout moment in Berlin 2018 when, at just 17, he shocked the senior field.

His record book is just as impressive. He has several world records, including the 3000m world record of 7:17.55, which broke Daniel Komen’s world record of 7:20.67. With everything in place, that was the level he could reach.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen has also been very close to some of the sport’s iconic marks in recent years, particularly to Hicham El Guerrouj’s record-breaking 1500m (3:26.00) and mile (3:43.13). He broke both of those European times and challenged them with 3:26.73 and 3:43.73, and he has spoken about his intentions to do the same with longer-distance ones when the opportunity is right.

After an injury-hit period, Ingebrigtsen is now setting his sights on another major push in 2026. “I hope to take the world record in 1500m, mile, and 5000m. If I can do that, I have to be satisfied. I have to look out for some events and dates where I can have the best chance of making some good attempts at it. Elisabeth [his wife] and I have started looking at the dates,” he said, adding that planning with his team has already started to find the right races for record attempts.