Family affair as Jake Wightman clinches 1500m gold at World Championships

Jake Wightman clinched a stunning 1500m gold medal at the World Championships – with dad Geoff commentating on his shock victory.

The 28-year-old won Great Britain’s first gold in Eugene on Tuesday night, which was announced at Hayward Field by his dad and coach Geoff.

Wightman won in three minutes 29.23 seconds ahead of Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen and Spain’s Mohamed Katir.

He becomes the first Briton to win the 1500m in 39 years, since Steve Cram’s victory in 1983 and hopes he managed to break his dad’s style.

“Dad can be a bit of a robot on the mic sometimes, some people say robot some say professional,” he smiled. “I hope he broke that down today. It will be interesting to watch it back. My mum was in tears, at least someone was crying.

“I didn’t hear him, hopefully that’s because he was a bit emotional. One of the first things he said was ‘get ready for Commies (Commonwealth Games) now’.

“I’m 28 now, I don’t know how many more opportunities I will get to do this and I hope there is a lot more to come. I need to make the most of it. It’s important to hit the milestone like this, seven, eight-year-old me would never have believed.

“There are so many people who have helped me get to this point. My dad has coached me since I was 14 or 15. Every club coach from Edinburgh, Loughborough Uni, British Athletics have all played a part. The main thing is to now thank everyone who has helped me.”

Wightman was already the fastest man this year and went for the win with 200m to go.

Ingebrigtsen was unable to react and Wightman held on to take the biggest win of his career. World Athletics then moved the medal ceremony forward to Tuesday evening because the original one clashed with his flight home on Wednesday.

“I didn’t