Jake Wightman aims to thrive as 'forgotten' man after injury hit 2023

Jake Wightman is ready to thrive as a "forgotten" man and challenge for the Olympic title after the 29-year-old's injury-ravaged 2023.

The Scottish middle-distance runner was unable to defend his World Championship 1500m title last year.

A combination of foot, shin and hamstring injuries have hampered Wightman.

"I got a glimpse of what it would be like when I retire. I am not ready to be done yet," he said.

"When you are fit and healthy, the sport is great, it is so fun, but when you are not and you can't run and you can't race, it is not a very enjoyable profession for us because you don't feel as though the sponsors that are paying you, or people that are supporting you, they are not really getting anything back from you, which doesn't feel nice.

"I am also in the later years of my career, I am not young anymore, so it makes me realise that I have to cherish the moments when I am running well and racing well.

"So it changed my perspective to make sure that these last few years that I have in the sport I can really make the most out of them and take in how lucky I am to be able to do this and be able to perform at the level that I have been able to."

• Wightman prioritises Olympics by missing Worlds

Wightman, who will make his long-awaited comeback at an indoor event in Boston next month, believes he is "definitely due some good luck this year" and that there are some good things to come from his enforced spell out.

"You never get in your career necessarily a chance to have a whole season off and to take away the stresses that come with racing," he said. "It is a pretty high-pressure environment when you are expected to perform and there a lot of things that you have to stay on top of during a season.

"My summer was very relaxed, I did things I wouldn't normally be able to do. [I have] a bit more hunger than I maybe would have if I had raced all last year."

'No loss of confidence'

Wightman is looking to pick up where he left off in 2022, a year in which he won world gold, European silver and a Commonwealth Games bronze.

Getting to, and making an impact at, this summer's Olympic Games in Paris is the big target.

"You get forgotten about pretty quickly - the sport moves on so," he suggested. "That is only a good thing if I don't get any attention drawn to me and I can go into the season a little bit more under the radar and not looked at.

"I have got no loss of confidence that I can come back to my best and perform as well as I need to to try and challenge for a title there."

However, Wightman needs to make sure he takes "no unnecessary risks" between now and then.

And, with the Olympics front and centre in his thoughts, he has had to make some "tough decisions' about his schedule. He will miss the World Indoor Championships in Glasgow in March.

"It is a shame because we don't get many home championships or home games within our careers and our lifetime," he added.

"A World Indoors in Glasgow would be one of the biggest that I could have, but I am sure there will be enough Scottish athletes for the home crowd to cheer.

"It is just the sad thing about an Olympic Games is that it takes priority over everything else, which means that you have to make those tough decisions to miss championships like that. It would be one that I would love to be at, but sadly I will have to be a spectator there."