‘I just want to progress year on year,’ says Jake

Wednesday 16th July 2014

Wightman now fourth on Scottish all-time list at 1500m

Jake Wightman came through the ranks at Edinburgh AC when his father (and coach) Geoff was with scottishathletics.

Now the European Champion at U20 level has made a sudden impact on the Scottish all-time lists for the 1500m and been selected for the Euro Champs in Zurich.

Wightman’s fine run for sixth place just behind Chris O’Hare in 3.35.49 in the Sainsbury’s Grand Prix took him into fourth place as he went above Olympian Frank Clement and just below O’Hare.

In this special blog post for scottishathletics, Jake talks about the Commonwealth Games and measuring his own year-on-year progress.

‘It was a massive thrill to run in front of that Hampden crowd on Saturday and get a taste of what it is going to be like.

‘When they reacted to myself and Chris at the start as the Scots it was a big boost on the start-line.

‘It was a special moment and I think when it is full, for the Games, it is going to be wild.

‘My dad announced me but he doesn’t like to say too much else. I am not actually sure if he will have seen me finishing the race.

‘I needed something like that because Friday was my birthday and it had to be a very tame one, obviously. It was an ordinary day rather than a birthday so this was a bit more special. I will treat myself at the end of the season.

‘We thought it would be great to get a Euro standard and 3.37.50 was about as far as I was hoping for. To take that down even further is terrific and I am not sure if I can better that this season – I will try and give it a good go, though. I just need to get the race sharpness up a wee bit.

‘The main thing is progression year-on-year. I was at U20 level last summer, obviously, with the Euro Champs in Italy.

‘I haven’t been particularly working on something – I just managed a good winter with some cross country, like winning the National U20 title at Falkirk, and then a decent start to the season in getting the qualifying time for the Games. It is all about improving each year.

‘Chris came up with an unbelievable run at Hampden, too, and for him to do that after hamstring issues just shows what a class athlete he is. He came past me but it was just a blut and I’m very pleased with my own PB.’