CRAM: WIGHTMAN ONE OF THE BEST I’VE EVER SEEN

STEVE CRAM hailed Jake Wightman as one of the best tactical racers he has seen after the Brit’s stunning 1500metres victory at the World Championships.

Cram was the last British athlete to win a world gold at 1500m — when he triumphed in Helsinki in 1983.

And he admitted it was hard to stay composed while commentating on the race for the BBC.

‘You are always that bit more emotionally taxed,’ he said. ‘It’s my event, it’s a Brit winning and that gave me a thrill. When you are calling someone home to win a gold medal when it wasn’t expected, it is much more rewarding.’

Cram went on to praise the 28-year-old Wightman and his performance, saying: ‘It’s very easy just to sit and wait and let things happen, to hang on and then get to the straight and think, ‘‘Right, have I got a chance now?’’ The hard thing is to commit.

‘Jake sensed with 300m to go he had the opportunity and moved on the shoulder of Jakob Ingebrigtsen and he would have expected him to really respond, and the response wasn’t a surge. ‘That made Jake think, ‘‘Hang on a minute, there isn’t much there”. He might have run out of legs in the home straight but you have got to back yourself, you have got to take the risk. That’s what won him gold.’ Cram also hailed Wightman as ‘one of the best racers I’ve ever watched in terms of tactics’, and added: ‘He thought, “If I don’t go now, it might be too late”. You have to throw your dice and he did it brilliantly.’