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In the 1980s Ingrid Kristiansen proved herself adept over a great range
of distances and at one time simultaneously held the World Records for
the 5000m and 10000m, as well as the world's best marathon time. Her
first international honour came when she finished third in the World
3000m Championships at Sittard in 1980 and on 11 July 1981 she set her
first World Record in the recently introduced 5000m event, clocking
15min 28.43sec at the Bislett Games in Oslo. In 1982 at the European
Championships at Athens she showed her versatility by coming 8th in the
3000m and third in the marathon.
After winning the Houston and London
marathons in 1984 she was considered a good contender for the Olympic
marathon held later that year in Los Angeles. The Los Angeles marathon
was "stolen" by Joan Benoit (USA) who went out at a pace that the main
contenders, including Kristiansen, considered too fast, and they waited
(in vain) for her to come back to them. Kristiansen finished 4th in 2hr
27min 34sec. Earlier in that year she had set her second 5000m World
Record of 14min 58.89secs at the Bislett Games in Oslo and at London on
21 April 1985 she set a world's best time of 2hr 21min 06sec for the
marathon winning by seven minutes.
She chose the Bislett Games again in
1985 to break the 10000m World Record in a time of 30min 59.42sec on 27
July. At the same event the following year on 5 July 1986 she smashed
this record with a time of 30min 13.74sec (see photo above). In
the 1986 European Championships held at Stuttgart on 30 August she won
the inaugural 10000m title by over 30 seconds in 30min 23.05sec. At
Stockholm nine days later she set her third 5000m World Record with a
time of 14min 37.33sec. (Ron Casey)
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