They were considered track and field sensations: the three Ingebrigtsen brothers, who were turned into top runners by their father. It has long since become a family drama. The father, according to the accusation, ruled with violence. Now the youngest and most successful son speaks out about his lawyer.
The radiant, even sensational story of the Ingebrigtsen family, which set out from Norway to turn the world of athletics on its head, began to crack some time ago. By then, father Gjert had trained his sons Jakob (24), Filip (31) and Henrik (33) into world-class athletes as an autodidact. Not in cross-country skiing, which would have been less surprising, but as a middle-distance runner.
Jakob in particular was considered a huge talent early on. At the age of 16, he was the youngest athlete to run a mile under four minutes and later won World Cup and Olympic gold. But the family unit crumbled, revealing itself to be a facade behind which – according to the brothers – violence was a means. There was a break between the father and his sons. Now the youngest is taking his father to court and making serious allegations.
The public prosecutor’s office had already brought charges against Gjert Ingebrigtsen (58) for violence against a family member in April. Accusations from Jakob Ingebrigtsen should now also be part of the indictment, as his lawyer has now made public.
“The charges are very serious. “They refer to violence over ten years, since he was a little schoolboy,” lawyer Mette Yvonne Larsen told the Norwegian newspaper VG. The father allegedly hit and kicked his son and threatened to kill him. Other family members are said to have confirmed this.
The court hearing is expected next year. The father’s legal team, who vehemently denies the allegations, criticized the prosecutor’s decision as “hasty.”
“Discomfort and fear that have accompanied us since childhood”
The father officially stepped down as his sons’ coach in 2022 for health reasons, but continues to coach other athletes. The separation caused a stir in Norway and the world of athletics at the time, but nothing was initially known about the background.
In autumn 2023, the brothers made serious allegations in a public statement in the newspaper “Verdens Gang”. “We grew up with a father who was very aggressive and controlling and used physical violence and threats as part of his upbringing,” it said. “We still feel discomfort and fear that have accompanied us since childhood.”
Regarding the separation from their father, they wrote: “Two years ago we had enough. From that moment we decided to break with our father. Then it became impossible for us to continue with him as a coach.”
The father admits mistakes but denies the allegations
Gjert Ingebrigtsen defends himself. A year ago, when the allegations became public, he said through his lawyer: “I have never used violence against my children. The fact that I had weaknesses as a father and was too much of a coach is a realization that I also came to – albeit much too late.”
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is the most successful of the three brothers. He won gold in the 1,500 meters at the 2021 Tokyo Olympics and followed that up with an Olympic victory in the 5,000 meters in Paris this summer – his father was not in France. The Norwegian Olympic organization Olympiatoppen did not grant Gjert Ingebrigtsen an accreditation for the Games in Paris despite his work for other athletes.
