SEB KOALA IS MY HERO
Jake up for two events Down Under
JAKE WIGHTMAN dreams of following in hero Seb Coe’s footsteps and becoming a middle-distance icon.
But the Scot will have to do it the hard way with five races in five days if he’s to live up to the Olympic god.
The 23-year-old is already on Lord Coe’s radar after Diamond League gold in Oslo last year saw him get a well-done message from the IAAF president that made him feel 10 feet tall.
And he revealed his dad and coach Geoff had spoken to the legendary 800m and 1500m star about how his son should tackle both events at a major games for the first time, an art lost since the days when Coe and Steve Ovett duelled in both events in the 80s.
Wightman said: “It’s looking like I might sacrifice the 800 but I still need to think it through. I’d be going from Tuesday through to Saturday with a race every day.
“But the worst bit of it would be if I got through all the rounds, the final of the 800 would be on the Thursday night at 10pm and the 1500 heats at 11am the following morning.
“If I didn’t make it out of the heats of the 1500 because I’d raced the night before it would be a disaster.
“But I can leave it until a couple of days before to decide.
“I feel ready to race both right now. And I would love to race both because I see myself as an 800 and 1500 runner.
“My dad was speaking to Seb Coe in Valencia about it and asked what the most he’d done was. He said six races in seven days. Five in five is probably tougher. But he thought if the heats weren’t that big a deal I should be fine.”
If you’re going to take counsel from someone it may as well be one of the greatest who ever raced. And Wightman added: “When I saw Kelly Holmes win both 800 and 1500 in 2014 I assumed that was the norm but its become a lot less common.
“And I don’t understand why. There’s no reason you can’t be good at both and be a proper middle-distance athlete.
“I’ve read all about the CoeOvett rivalry – I’m a big Coe fan out of the two of them!
“I admire Ovett but because I went to Loughborough and I’m coached by my dad I see more similarities with Coe.
“The way both of them raced was fearless which is what I love. That aggression and confidence they showed on the track is something I’d like to think I show as well. You don’t win races unless you have an attitude like that.
“One of the best things I’ve had in my career was after winning in Oslo last year Seb wrote me a letter. The fact he’d taken the time to sit down and do that for me meant so much.
“He congratulated me on how well he thought I’d run because he was at the meeting, and that put him on an absolute pedestal. It just makes you feel 10 feet tall. It was such a nice thing to get and from someone you look up to so much, you can’t really ask for much more.
“Physically I’d be all right running five days in a row because I don’t think the heats would be too tough. But mentally it’s draining.
“And the 1500 field is tough, especially when you have Elijah Manangoi and Timothy Cheruiyot, the top two in the world racing. But you want it to be as strong a field as possible.
“It’s a proper test of how well I’m running at the moment and if I could take away a medal from it then you’re in a pretty good state globally as well.”