Ingebrigtsen sorry for calling 1500m rivals ‘losers’ but maintains Hocker ‘acted cowardly’

Jakob Ingebrigtsen (right) was unhappy with how most of his fellow competitors approached Friday’s 1500m, in which he finished fourth. Photograph: Olivier Hoslet/EPA

The double Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen has issued a part-apology for calling his rivals “losers” and a “bunch of cowards” after a spicy men’s 1500m Diamond League final on Friday.

However, Ingebrigtsen has continued to maintain that he was still right to accuse the Olympic 1500m champion Cole Hocker of cowardice – because he asked for a strong pace and swapped in his own pacemaker only to then hide behind others in the race.