Jake Wightman admits he’s on the back foot after a sub-par showing at Saturday’s Diamond League in Birmingham that’s forced the Scottish star to formulate a Plan B.
The Tokyo Olympic 1500m finalist was only fourth in the men’s 800 metres in a time of 1:46.39 that was shy of his target.
The initial goals for his summer are to chase medals over 1500m at July’s world championships and Commonwealth Games. This was an opportunity to stake a claim for an 800m berth at August’s Europeans but it was a chance blown.
“I wanted to just run quick at this time of year but it was mainly just about being in that race,” the 27-year-old from Edinburgh revealed. “I feel like we kind of let it go a little bit and I ended up looking pretty stupid.
“I want to just do 800 at the Euros. I don't think that's good enough to prove that. So I'm now going to need to try and run another one in a few weeks time. I'm fit. I could run a personal best hopefully right at this moment. But I just need a couple more races. So if I had one more 800 at some point, I think I could go a lot quicker.”
His rival Josh Kerr was only fifth in the men’s 1500m as was Jemma Reekie in the women’s 1500 as training partner Laura Muir made a victorious return from injury. The Glasgow-based colleagues will now fly to Oregon this week to race the Prefontaine Classic which will give them a feel for the world championship venue.
Reekie will drop back to her favoured 800m with a few lessons taken. “This race didn’t really go to plan but I’ve only done a few 1500s,” she said. “It’s just learning and I’m happy to get the season under way. It’s my first one so I’m pleased to get out.”
Elsewhere, there was a Scottish record in the women’s 4x100m relay of 44.75 secs while Zoey Clark ducked under the Commonwealth qualifying mark once again by winning the non-Diamond League 400m in 51.88 secs. The £72m revamp of the Alexander Stadium ahead of the Commonwealths got the Aberdonian’s approval. Her performance did too.
“I have not had the best preparation this week so I just wanted to execute the race well which I think I did,” she said. “I am going to have a couple of weeks off to recover now then get back to solid training and hope to sneak in a couple of 100 and 200m races in to work on my speed.
“It is a busy summer and I want to be part of it all. The worlds are my target but having had a taste of competing here, I definitely want to be back and part of Team Scotland in the summer.”
Chris Bennett tuned up for the British trials by throwing 72.68 metres to come third in the hammer at the Halle International in Germany. “It’s not the worst result but it could have been so much better,” the Glaswegian said. “I’m in good shape. I just need to string a good competition together.”
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