Wightman 'in good place' for Olympic selection battle

Scottish trio Neil Gourley, Jake Wightman and Josh Kerr (left to right) are all eyeing Olympic selection

Jake Wightman feels "in a good place" but knows he faces a battle to even achieve Team GB selection as the former world 1500m champion aims to make it third time lucky in his quest for Olympic glory.

After an injury-hit 2023, the Scot has been in good form this year and has already achieved the qualifying mark for this summer's event in Paris.

But so have a number of other GB runners, including fellow Scots Josh Kerr, the current world champion, and Neil Gourley.

"What Josh did last year, and he has done this year, he will get that third spot, which means the rest of us have to go and be top two at the trials to guarantee our selection," Wightman told BBC Scotland.

"It used to be, back in the day, when I was first trying to make Olympic Games, there were only two people with the standard."

Wightman realises that, at the age of 29, "I might not have another Olympic Games after this".

"This could be my last one, so therefore I need to make sure that I do everything I possibly can to give myself the best chance to try to win it," he said.

"I think my Olympic experiences so far have been 2016, I didn’t make the team, 2021 I had a disappointing run in the final, so I am hoping my third time will be the charm."

Wightman believes he would not have become world champion in 2022 "if I hadn’t had a bad Olympic experience in 2021".

"I learned a lot from that and I am almost grateful for that to have gone how it did because it taught me so much to then carry forward into championships," he said.

"I am 29 now, so I have made a lot mistakes racing and a lot of mistakes with that sort of stuff and prep, so I feel there is not too much I can do wrong now."

Wightman insists taking the Olympic crown would be "a much bigger claim to win" for himself and Kerr despite their world titles.

"When you are a little kid, the only thing that you are really dreaming of is winning Olympic gold, so even though myself and Josh won world gold, it isn’t quite the same," he suggested.

Confident of selection at 1500m, Kerr is planning to run the 800m at the British Championships at the end of June - a distance at which Wightman also has the Olympic qualifying standard.

However, like his fellow Scot, Wightman is resisting the temptation to double up in Paris.

"I would love to," he revealed. "I enjoy racing 800m more and I feel as though, if I focused on it, I could be OK at them. But, for me, 1500m is always the event that I think I will be at my best.

"My strengths lie in that event and the way both the 800m and the 1500m are going, you can’t be greedy and try to go for two because you will end up going for none."