Ingebrigtsen: Born to Run takes us inside the broken family ties

You know when you’ve been hiding away in spectacular idleness for a little too long once the free seven-day trials are running out, as happened this week just before the final episode of Ingebrigtsen: Born to Run, currently streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
This didn’t necessarily spoil things, given most of us already know exactly how this latest six-episode series ends. Not with Jakob Ingebrigtsen defending his Olympic 1,500 metres title in Paris, as he’d so brashly predicted, but finding some consolation when winning the 5,000m – then gaining some revenge on all three of the runners who finished ahead of him in the 1,500m when closing out the Diamond League unbeaten.
Just like its predecessor, Team Ingebrigtsen, which aired on Norwegian TV from 2016 until the Tokyo Olympics, Born to Run is part family reality show, part training manual, part travelogue, and all about running.
This time it follows a much shorter time frame, essentially the four months building up to the Paris Olympics and plays out like a show a lot more for grown-ups, or at least a lot less jovial a watch in parts.
That’s because it’s almost a year now since Jakob issued a statement along with his older brothers, Henrik and Filip, both also formerly coached by their father Gjert, in which they claimed their relationship was marred by “physical violence and threats” and that they had “grown up with a father who has been very aggressive and controlling”.
In a statement issued via his lawyer, the 58-year-old Gjert said the claims of his three sons are “baseless”, and that he has “never used violence against my children”.
He then added: “That I have had weaknesses as a father, and have been too much of a coach, is a realisation I have also come to, albeit far too late. Our family has lived in the public spotlight for many years, and we have chosen to let the public into our lives through TV series, interviews and much more. That violence should have occurred in this public family life is unthinkable.”
This issue is first raised about midway through episode one. In episode two, just before Filip’s first race of 2024, news breaks that the Norwegian police have pressed charges against Gjert for alleged physical abuse, which is also understood to include their younger sister, Ingrid, who has since quit running entirely.
That trial is expected to take place before the end of the year, likely adding to what has been an “unbearably tough year” for Jakob, according to Henrik, who now coaches him.
Born to Run does take us back inside the ridiculously exhausting training regimes of the Ingebrigtsen brothers, from the never-ending hill repeats to the 24x400m intervals on the track, and their still occasionally playful approach (in one scene Jabob swallows the dripping blood from his fingertip after a lactate test, rather than let it go to waste).
It also touches on Jakob’s now fabled rivalry with Britain’s Josh Kerr, who beat him to the world Championship 1,500m title last year, then himself had to settle for silver in Paris, behind Cole Hocker of the USA.
“The problem with the rivalry is that it’s not created by the media,” Jakob says coldly. “It’s only been created by that moron because he began trash-talking me.” (The complete lack of eye contact between these two in later scenes is also telling.)
Ultimately it’s the family side of Born to Run which makes for compelling viewing, how the once closely-knit and seemingly idyllic Ingebrigtsen family unit is now broken beyond repair.
It was February of 2022 when Norway’s Stavanger Aftenblad newspaper first reported Gjert was stepping down from his role as coach to his three sons, all of whom he coached to European titles. Initially it was believed to be due to medical reasons, but it soon emerged this was down to a domestic conflict.
Over two years later the three brothers must in some way be still processing the loss of this father figure, and there is no mention whatsoever of their mother Tone. Meanwhile their lives go on, babies are being born, houses are being built, and family is still at their core.
Later in episode two, while on a training camp in Flagstaff, Arizona, Jakob addresses his relationship with his wife Elisabeth, saying: “She’s in love with me, and I’m in love with me as well. It’s a perfect match.”
It sounds childish, and perhaps is meant too, Elisabeth later having her own say when displaying some of the new baby clothes she has purchased.
“I got a lot of cute stuff, so yeah, Jakob thinks all of this is just nonsense. But I think it’s really nice. And that’s what’s most important.”
If all that sounds harmless, there is a more serious backdrop, such as when Henrik has to return home early from the training camp in Flagstaff as his wife, Liva, is struggling mentally at home in Sandnes, Norway, with their young daughter. Filip, too, is soon unsure about his own future, with his second child on the way.
In another telling scene, the three brothers and Elisabeth are preparing dinner at their training camp in Flagstaff, and Elisabeth appears to be jesting when asking Jakob: “Can you ask Filip if he’s feeling better now?”
“I’m not that caring, so it should be Elisabeth,” Jakob says.
“You can do it Jakob, so you can,” she replies.
So he continues: “Are you feeling better Filip? (‘Yes I’m a little better.’) You shouldn’t push yourself when you’re not feeling well. We have to listen to our bodies, and when you reach the bottom, you have to realise that you can’t just keep digging . . .”
It is not at all clear if Jakob is in some way alluding to his father here, but it seems there is something dark about his words, suggesting that for all his continued success on the track, he is still paying a high price off it.