sport news Jake Wightman has his sights set on gold over 800m at the European Championships trends now
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The glow of a gold medal can be measured in many ways. For Jake Wightman, one way to gauge it is with the number of well-wishers who approached him when he returned to Teddington after winning the world 1500m title.
‘Are you that lad who won the race?’ asked one elderly lady as she crossed the road. After Wightman confirmed he was, he was met with an excited: ‘Well done, you!’ A trip to the local coffee shop went much the same.
Before the World Championships, the owner did not really know who Wightman was. After it, ‘he made a big fuss’ and as they sat together outside, dozens of strangers offered congratulations.
Jake Wightman won gold over 1500m at the World Athletics Championships earlier this year
‘It makes you realise it was a bigger deal,’ says Wightman. ‘As far as I know, athletics is a tiny sport that no one watches, but it transcended into a lot more.’
Wightman finds such interactions a little surreal but he knows it comes with the territory. He says: ‘I like speaking to people, so if people come up chatting I’d happily speak back. The part of it that could get annoying is if it disrupts your race routine.’
That was the case on Wednesday night in Monaco, where Wightman took victory over 1,000m in 2:13.88 after a
