A pre-race outsider in a stellar field, the 28-year-old delivered Team GB’s first gold medal of the World Athletics Championships in Eugene
As Jake Wightman was celebrating the greatest and most dramatic heist of these world championships to snatch Britain’s first gold medal here in Eugene, the giant screen at Hayward Field suddenly switched to the stadium announcer.
In the depths of winter they conducted a plan to toughen Wightman Jnr up by running more cross countries and 3,000m races so that when he reached this final in Eugene he would still save the strength in his legs to utilise his 1 min 44 sec 800m speed. And on a day when the temperatures crept towards the 90s, the plan worked to perfection.
“The only point of having a good 800m PB in a race like that is if you are there with 200m to go,” said Wightman, who had previously only had bronze medals at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and European Championships to his name.