Norway's 20-year-old Jakob Ingebrigtsen is getting married

Norwegian and European record holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen and his longtime girlfriend Elisabeth Asserson are getting married. The pair of 20-year-olds have been a couple for five years, and Ingebrigtsen popped the question on Saturday. 

After five years together, Asserson has been in Ingebrigtsen’s life for all of his biggest achievements in running. She has had a front-row seat as he has grown from a young talent with great potential into an admittedly still young super star on the track.

Ingebrigtsen has been on the running world’s radar for a long time now, but in the past couple of years, he has become more and more successful. In 2019, he won a European championship in the indoor 3,000m before representing Norway at the world championships in Doha, Qatar. There, he ran two near-podium performances, finishing in fourth in the 1,500m and fifth in the 5,000m. 

He wrapped up the year by running the Norwegian 10K record of 27:54 and winning the U20 European cross-country title. While 2020 was a different year due to COVID-19, he still managed to continue to find success on the race course, setting European records in the 1,500m (3.28.68) and 2,000m (4:50.01) and an unofficial Norwegian 5K road record (he ran his 13:28 PB on an uncertified course).  

Finally, Ingebrigtsen has carried his winning ways on into 2021 — a year in which he has already set the European indoor 1,500m record (3:31.80) and won European crowns in the indoor 1,500m and 3,000m. And now, he has added an engagement to his list of highlights for the year.

posted Monday April 12th
by Ben Snider-McGrath