Jake Wightman
Personal information | |
---|---|
Born | Nottingham, England, United Kingdom[1] | 11 July 1994
Education | Loughborough University[2] |
Height | 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in) |
Weight | 67 kg (148 lb) |
Sport | |
Country | Great Britain & N.I. Scotland |
Sport | Athletics |
Event | Middle-distance running |
Club | Edinburgh AC[3] |
Coached by | Geoff Wightman[4] |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal bests | |
Medal record |
Jake Wightman (born 11 July 1994)[5] is a Scottish middle-distance runner competing primarily in the 1500 metres. He won the gold medal at the 2022 World Championships, the first global gold in a middle distance event for a British male since Seb Coe's 1500 m title at the Los Angeles 1984.[4] At the European Athletics Championships, Wightman earned a bronze in 2018 and a silver for the 800 metres in 2022. He took bronze medal at the 2018 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.
In 2013, Wightman was in his specialist event European Under-20 champion.
Career
As a junior athlete, Wightman was the 2013 European junior champion in the 1500 metres.[6]
In June 2018, Wightman set the Scottish record for the 1000 metres with a time of 2:16.27 at the Diamond League meeting in Stockholm, breaking the previous record which had stood since 1984.[7]
In the 2020 Diamond League in Monaco, Wightman broke the Scottish record for the 1500 m with a time of 3:29.47, finishing in third place.[8]
Wightman won the gold medal in the 1500 m event at the 2022 World Championships in Eugene, Oregon with a personal best time of 3:29.23, beating Olympic champion and European record holder Jakob Ingebrigtsen. It was the first British 1500 m world title since Steve Cram in 1983, and ended a streak of seven consecutive golds in the event from Kenya-born runners. His father, Geoff Wightman, former marathoner and long-time media commentator, called the race as in-stadium commentator.[9][4] Jake continued his good form by taking a bronze in his specialist event at the Commonwealth Games Birmingham 2022, and a silver for the 800 m at the European Championships held in Munich.[5][10] He capped his breakthrough season on the road in September, winning for the third time the Fifth Avenue Mile in New York.[11] Wightman revised his personal bests in the 800 m, 1000 m, 1500 m, mile (track and road) and 3000 m (indoor) across the year, and was crowned Scottish Athlete of the Year.
Personal life
Wightman was born in Nottingham, England.
He attended Stewart's Melville College and Fettes College, both independent schools in Edinburgh, before studying at Loughborough University.[12]
His father and trainer Geoff Wightman represented England in the marathon at the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, whilst his mother Susan Tooby and his aunt represented Great Britain at the Summer Olympics Seoul 1988.[8][13][14]
Achievements
International competitions
Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
2013 | European Junior Championships | Rieti, Italy | 1st | 1500 m | 3:44.14 |
2014 | Commonwealth Games | Glasgow, United Kingdom | 16th (h) | 1500 m | 3:43.87 |
2016 | European Championships | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 7th | 1500 m | 3:47.68 |
2017 | World Championships | London, United Kingdom | 20th (sf) | 1500 m | 3:41.79 |
2018 | World Indoor Championships | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 6th | 1500 m | 3:58.91 |
Commonwealth Games | Gold Coast, Australia | 4th | 800 m | 1:45.82 | |
3rd | 1500 m | 3:35.97 | |||
European Championships | Berlin, Germany | 3rd | 1500 m | 3:38.25 | |
2019 | World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 5th | 1500 m | 3:31.87 |
2021 | Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | 10th | 1500 m | 3:35.09 |
2022 | World Championships | Eugene, OR, United States | 1st | 1500 m | 3:29.23 |
Commonwealth Games | Birmingham, United Kingdom | 3rd | 1500 m | 3:30.53 | |
European Championships | Munich, Germany | 2nd | 800 m | 1:44.91 |
Circuit wins, National championships
- Diamond League
- 2017 (2): Oslo Bislett Games (1500m, PB), Birmingham Grand Prix (Mile)
- 2022 (3): Rabat Meeting International Mohammed VI d'Athlétisme (1500m), Monaco Herculis (1000m, MR WL), Brussels Memorial Van Damme (800m, PB)
- British Athletics Championships titles
- 1500 metres: 2022
- British Indoor Athletics Championships titles
- 1500 metres: 2018
Personal bests
- 800 metres – 1:43.65 (Brussels 2022) (NR Scottish)
- 800 metres indoor – 1:47.69 (Glasgow 2018)
- 1000 metres – 2:13.88 (Monaco 2022) (NR Scottish)
- 1000 metres indoor – 2:17.51 (Boston, MA 2020)
- 1500 metres – 3:29.23 (Eugene, OR 2022)
- 1500 metres indoor – 3:34.48 (New York, NY 2021)
- One Mile – 3:50.30 (Oslo 2022) (NR Scottish)
- 3000 metres indoor – 7:37.81 (New York, NY 2022)
Awards
- Scottish Athletics
- Athlete of the Year: 2022[15]
- Performer of the Year: 2020 (with Laura Muir and Jemma Reekie)[16]
- British Athletics Writers' Association
- British Milers' Club
- BMC Male Athlete of the Year: 2022[18]
References
- ^ "Glasgow 2014 - Jake Wightman Profile". g2014results.thecgf.com.
- ^ University bio Archived 2016-08-22 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "Athlete Profile". www.thepowerof10.info.
- ^ a b c Ingle, Sean (20 July 2022). "Jake Wightman stuns 1500m field to claim world title as dad commentates". TheGuardian.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ a b "Jake WIGHTMAN – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2021.
- ^ "Who is Jake Wightman? Athlete wins World Athletics Championships gold". www.nationalworld.com.
- ^ "Jake Wightman smashes 34-year-old Scottish record". dinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 7 October 2019.
- ^ a b Calvert, Howard (14 July 2022). "5 things you should know about British athlete Jake Wightman". Runner's World.
- ^ "GB's Wightman takes stunning world 1500m gold". BBC Sport. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "European Championships: Jake Wightman takes silver in men's 800m". BBC Sport. 21 August 2022. Retrieved 21 August 2022.
- ^ Adams, Tim (11 September 2022). "Laura Muir and Jake Wightman win 5th Avenue Mile in New York". AW. Retrieved 11 September 2022.
- ^ "World Athletics Championship: How to watch Josh Kerr and Jake Wightman going for gold in 1,500m final". www.edinburghnews.scotsman.com. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "2016 EAC bio" (PDF).
- ^ "Jake Wightman: World champion and his dad Geoff on 1500m Oregon victory". BBC Sport. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ "4J Annual Awards: Jake and Sean land our 4J Athlete of Year titles after memorable year". Scottish Athletics. 30 October 2022. Retrieved 30 October 2022.
- ^ "Muir and Miller land our Athlete of Year titles at 4J Annual Awards". Scottish Athletics. 10 October 2021. Retrieved 10 October 2021.
- ^ "Reekie and Wightman among winners of the 2020 British Athletics Writers Association Awards". Retrieved 6 January 2022.
- ^ Henderson, Jason (16 November 2022). "Laura Muir and Jake Wightman named BMC athletes of 2022". AW. Retrieved 16 November 2022.
External links
- Jake Wightman at World Athletics
- Jake Wightman at European Athletics
- Jake Wightman at Diamond League
- Jake Wightman at British Athletics
- Jake Wightman at ThePowerOf10.info
- 1994 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Nottingham
- Scottish male middle-distance runners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
- Alumni of Loughborough University
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain
- Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics
- Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland
- European Championships (multi-sport event) bronze medalists
- European Athletics Championships medalists
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
- Olympic athletes of Great Britain
- Anglo-Scots
- World Athletics Championships winners