Ingebrigtsen wins 5000m but withdraws from 1500m final

Jakob Ingebrigtsen won the men's 5,000 meters at the inaugural World Athletics Ultimate Championship on Friday, capping a comeback from Achilles surgery, but withdrew from the 1500m final the next day to avoid racing on consecutive days. The Norwegian Olympic champion surged to victory in 12 minutes 59.24 seconds, earning a $150,000 prize, before announcing his withdrawal from Sunday's 1500m showdown with rival Josh Kerr. Ingebrigtsen, 25, said in an Instagram video posted Saturday that he could not risk back-to-back races after returning from an 11-month injury layoff that included surgery in February. "I would love for it to be different, and to be sharper in terms of recovery, but coming from a very difficult last two years with injury problems and Achilles surgery I am forced to be more sensible than I would like to be," he said. His 5,000m victory was a statement performance. Ingebrigtsen bided his time at the back of the pack before unleashing a devastating finishing kick, covering the final lap in 54.39 seconds to pull away from his rivals. Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker finished second in 13:00.05, with American teammate Parker Wolfe third in 13:00.13.