Jake Wightman stuns 1500m field to claim world title as dad commentates

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.

“I have got to tell you why the camera is on me,” said Geoff Wightman, a former top marathon runner and the voice of athletics across the world. “That’s my son. I coach him. And he’s the world champion.”

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Somehow Wightman held back the tears after a moment that was surely unprecedented in broadcasting as well as elite sporting history. But slumped on the track in a similar state of shock was his son, who had just run the race of his life to take gold.

Few expected this. Not the bookies, who made him a massive underdog. Or British Athletics who had booked Wightman on a flight home on Wednesday – which meant his medal ceremony had to be brought forward nearly 24 hours to immediately after the race.

But while the 28-year-old was an outsider in a stellar field that included the Tokyo 2020 medallists Jakob Ingebrigtsen, Timothy Cheruiyot, and Josh Kerr – as well as Abel Kipsang, the world’s fastest man in 2022 – father and son always believed.

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 90C, the plan worked to perfection.

Wightman stayed in close contact with the leaders as first Kipsang, who had not lost a race all season, and then the 2019 world champion Cheruiyot fell