He has run faster than Cram ... but now it’s all about winning medals for Wightman
THE fast times and congratulations have been enjoyable. But not quite what Jake Wightman wanted from 2020.
Ah well, there’s always next year. An Olympic year, hopefully, after Tokyo’s postponement. And the potential to do something truly spectacular. Twice over? Watch this space.
Wightman, easily Britain’s most exciting male middle-distance runner right now, laughs as he describes the unexpected twists and turns his summer season has taken.
There was the brave, some might say foolhardy, decision to travel to the Italian epicentre of a global pandemic… only to be left with no race to run.
Or the night in Monaco when he blasted past some of the sport’s greatest performers to climb up the UK all-time rankings for the metric mile.
The Scot, a rare throwback whose ability over both 800 and 1500metres inspires obvious comparisons with legends like Seb Coe, Steve Ovett and Steve
Cram, hasn’t run brilliantly every time he’s taken to the track.
But watching him win over the shorter distance in Ostrava on Tuesday night, it was impossible not to marvel at the body of work being assembled by a 26-year-old clearly approaching his peak.
Reflecting on that fantastic night in Monte Carlo last month when he surpassed Cram’s 1500m PB, posting a time second only to the great Mo Farah on the all-time British list, Wightman told Sportsmail: ‘You don’t do this sport for the fast times.
‘It’s every kid’s dream to win Olympic gold, so you want to run your best at champs — and come home with medals. That’s what you get remembered for, not a handful of fast times.
‘I raced an 800 a few days after Monaco that was pretty average, so it brought me down to earth pretty quick!
‘I had big reaction and a lot of nice messages. But it’s not like winning a medal.
‘It dies down as soon as someone else runs quick a couple of nights later. I need to convert that pace into medals next year. But, yeah, I remember watching that run from Mo, when he set the British record, and thinking how disgustingly quick that was. And now I’m within touching distance of that. So I hope to get the opportunity to go past that.’ Wightman, coached by dad Geoff, is adamant about his ambition to double up in two of track’s blue-riband events. In an era when many modern two-lap specialists might struggle to run further than 804 metres without collapse, he’s dreaming of doing both in Japan next summer. ‘I’ve always wanted to be good at both,’ he said. ‘The 1500 has naturally been the one I was a little bit better at. But it’s important to keep my 800 as quick as I can make it. ‘Because I still want to double up at a major championships — if the timetable allows and I’m running well enough in both. ‘This year, I could take a little bit of pressure off the 1500. It’s almost like having a free pass to just go out and run fast. I initially thought 800 was my best opportunity to get a PB but it’s panned out the other way around. ‘The Olympics being put off for a year did change everything. Looking forward, I think you just repeat what you wanted to carry out last year. But that’s difficult because we can’t go to the same training locations, potentially.
‘The important thing for me was that, even if I didn’t get the chance to compete this summer, I would still train the same, still peak for those track sessions and get ready to race — even if there was no race to run.
‘I’m grateful that we’ve been able to come out and show the work we’d put in for the Olympics. But it’s another year, another opportunity to work on things that I could still improve.’
Wightman is just one of a new golden generation of Scottish athletes, especially over the classic distances.
On the men’s side, he’s being pushed by Neil Gourley and Josh Kerr, to name just two.
And, of course, Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie are currently engaged in their own dual domination of women’s 800 and 1500m races.
Wightman believes this new blooming of talent hasn’t come by accident. But is down to the special circumstances created by the sport’s leaders in Scotland — a small country now punching well above its weight.
He said: ‘It goes all the way up to Eilish McColgan in the 5,000, Callum Hawkins and Steph Twell in the marathon… then you’ve got folk like Andy Butchart and Lynsey Sharp as well.
‘Seeing Lynsey win European gold in 2012 was a big moment for a lot of Scottish athletes.
‘A lot of us were thinking: “We’ve seen her train since she was young, she’s done it coming from Scotland, so why can’t anybody else do that?”.
‘We were also lucky when we were younger to get taken to Scottish Athletics camps, to compete in events. I got international vests when I wouldn’t necessarily have done that if I’d been outside of Scotland.
‘We were really nurtured. None of us really did too much when we were too young. But we were still looked after well. Now you’re seeing the results of that.
‘Just because the numbers mean the depth isn’t as great as it is in England, that was such a great thing for us. If I’d been running the times I was, I would never even have made the English Schools Championships.
‘Whereas I could actually medal at the Scottish Schools. ‘From that, you get the chance to go on these camps. ‘There was always constant contact and being watched by people from Scottish Athletics. ‘It’s such a good environment and it’s showing now. And I hope it’s going to be a legacy for a while. Every time you see someone like Laura picking up medals all over the place, it gives you the inspiration to do the same.’ Wightman is looking to finish strongly this season, with maybe one more race on the cards before winter training. Reflecting on this disrupted summer, he recalled: ‘My first trip was going to Trieste in Italy — to not even have a race! I’d travelled to Italy during a global pandemic for an event that got cancelled. I’d gone through the whole process, sitting with a face mask on, constantly washing my hands… ‘It’s been pretty good since things started up. I feel safe and lucky we don’t have to quarantine when we get back.’