European Championship Final: 'Of course, one is disappointed,' says Nordås after finishing seventh

Narve Gilje Nordås finished seventh in the European Championship 1500-meter final, falling short of his medal ambitions. The Norwegian runner clocked a time of 3:37.30, over a second behind the bronze medalist.

"Of course, one is disappointed. I felt good during warm-up, I felt good at the starting line," Nordås told NRK. He explained that while he felt strong initially, he struggled to keep pace when the speed increased in the final lap.

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Of course, one is disappointed. I felt good during warm-up, I felt good at the starting line.

Nordås ran an aggressive race, taking the lead early on and holding it until the final lap. However, as competitors surged forward, he began to fall back. He mentioned facing some headwind on the back straight and a near-fall, which he stated took some of his "sting" out, but he emphasized that these were not the primary reasons for his performance.

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I had used a little too much energy during the race to be able to respond properly in the headwind there.

"I had used a little too much energy during the race to be able to respond properly in the headwind there," Nordås concluded. NRK expert Vebjørn Rodal commented that Nordås might not have been in peak form and suggested he made different choices than usual during the race. Jakob Ingebrigtsen, the defending champion, opted to focus on the 5000 meters, where he secured gold.

Nordås's previous international successes include a World Championship bronze in 2023. He had a mixed performance in subsequent championships, reaching the Olympic final but finishing seventh, and missing the World Championship final by a narrow margin in another instance. His long-term coaching relationship with Gjert Ingebrigtsen ended earlier in the year.

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It was probably not Narve in great form. He had not burned so much energy in such a way that it would indicate a sudden stop with 300 meters left. Fun to see that he made some different choices than he has done.