The 2025 track and field season was filled with incredible performances from several athletes. However, for someone like Jakob Ingebrigtsen, it was a campaign to forget. He was plagued by an Achilles injury that first surfaced after the World Indoor Championships. While he returned to the Tokyo World Championships, his performance was nowhere close to his previous stints. And finally, he has taken a big step toward recovery.

As reported by Citius Mag on X, Ingebrigtsen took to Instagram and confirmed that he underwent Achilles surgery in the United States. “Those of you who have followed over the past couple of years will know I’ve been struggling with my achilles. A persistent and very specific injury that forced me to miss a lot of training and racing,” he wrote. “Around 2 weeks ago, the achilles flared up again and we finally took the decision to travel to America for surgery.”

The surgery was performed last week under renowned orthopedic specialist Dr. Amol Saxena at Stanford Health Care in Palo Alto, California. For the Norwegian track & field star, this was “absolutely the right thing” he did for “the longevity of my career.” Indeed, Achilles’ issues have been a blockade to his career. It even made him miss the 2023-24 indoor season.

Injuries have run throughout the Ingebrigtsen family. His big brother Filip was a favorite for the European Championships in 2018. However, in the semi-finals, he fell and broke a rib. While he still carried on and qualified for the final, the injury affected his performance.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen also revealed the mentality that he will carry towards his recovery, stating, “The surgery went very smoothly and I’m relieved to have a clear path of recovery back to the start line after many months of uncertainty. Running is not always sunshine and rainbows but injuries are part of the sport and setbacks are a part of life. Grateful to have an amazing team and support system around me. I’ll be back!”

His comeback will be a long one. Reports suggest that the Norwegian might miss the entire 2026 season. However, such an absence will allow him to completely turn his focus to the 2027 Beijing World Championships, with the LA Olympics being his ultimate goal in 2028. Ingebrigtsen also once revealed what hurt him the most in Tokyo.

Jakob Ingebrigtsen was just heartbroken

The Tokyo World Championships completely broke Jakob Ingebrigtsen. His unbeaten streak in the 5000m didn’t exist anymore following his 10th-place finish on the circuit, and what hurt him the most was that he competed in two events (1500m and 5000m) but couldn’t get the maximum out of his performance.

“But I’m not afraid to lose. I’m more afraid of not doing my best. And on Sunday, that was definitely a realization of that fear. Because I was having such a bad day and I was not able to do what I thought I should have done. My disappointment has been bigger the last six months than it is now in this championship,” he said.

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“I kind of just bring that into the championships. That I have expectations of what I can do based on how far I’ve come. But still, it’s about showing up and trying your best, even though it’s a totally new scenario. But if everybody thought about staying home we would not have a championship.”

Despite the Achilles injury that kept him out of the entire outdoor season following the Indoor Championships, Jakob Ingebrigtsen had done his training just to perform in Tokyo. He did run, but he and the entire track & field community knew that this performance wasn’t of someone who is a two-time Olympic and World Champion. So, only time will tell how fierce his form will be once he returns to his running ways.