As the runners hit the penultimate bend, the racing pulse of the music starts to beat faster. The choice, and the timing, are perfect: Darude’s now semi-ancient trance track “Sandstorm.” But very few of the 15,000 in attendance can hear any of it. Ingebrigtsen, sensing the crowd’s desperation, digs deep and then, at the last, dives forward, feet off the ground, to beat his rival to the line. Norway’s annual celebration of track and field, the Bislett Games, has been a highlight of the country’s sporting calendar for more than half a century. For a long time, though, its headline acts were imported; once, organizers committed a significant portion of their appearance budget to Usain Bolt to persuade him to come.

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Persons: Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Timothy Cheruiyot, Bolt Organizations: Bislett Locations: Oslo, Kenya