Oh brother! Ingebrigtsen beats his siblings to clinch 1,500m title

Berlin - The three brothers all expected Filip to successfully defend his crown.

His two brothers had always said that Jakob Ingebrigtsen was going to be the best of them all. The 17-year-old proved them right on Friday as he became the youngest winner of an individual track title in the 84-year history of the European Athletics Championships.
The fairytale of the three Norwegian siblings, who had hoped to achieve a unique 1-2-3 in the 1,500 metres final, never materialised in the Olympic Stadium, with oldest brother Henrik finishing fourth and race favourite Filip 12th.
Yet the story of the youngster who led from start to finish at the age of 17 years 324 days to follow 2012 champion Henrik and 2016 winner Filip as the continent's metric mile champion was still one of the most outlandish at the Championships.
The three brothers all expected Filip to successfully defend his title but after getting spiked when falling in his semifinal, the struggling champion faded after the trio all led at half-way.
Instead, it was the outstanding Jakob who ran a remarkably mature race, pushing on from the bell and outpacing his pursuers to win in 3 minutes 38.10 seconds and become the first European champion born in this millennium.
At the line, Jakob had looked across, thinking Filip was roaring through with the fast finish. Instead, it was Poland's Marcin Lewandowski, who just failed to spoil the script by 0.04 seconds. "I was wondering if I missed a lap or something," smiled the surprised champion, astonished that he had kept the title in the family. "I'm really happy to bring home what's ours!"
Jakob's father Gjert, while pronouncing himself proud of all his lads, added: "It's quite ridiculous that he's won, he's only 17! That's madness! I am extremely surprised."
Brother Henrik was not shocked, though. "There is nothing that surprises me about him any more," he said after the brothers posed for photos with the Viking-helmeted Jakob.
Another "happy families" story saw Belgium's evergreen 30-year-old twins Kevin and Jonathan Borlee win silver and bronze respectively in the 400m but neither could live with Britain's Matthew Hudson-Smith, who started strongly and held on to win in 44.78sec.
Karsten Warholm's audacious bid to add the one-lap flat title to his 400m hurdles crown ended, almost predictably, with the Norwegian lying physically shattered on the track after finishing last.  

• Athletics