It’s among the most breathtaking moments in recent World Athletics Championships history.
Arms outstretched and mouth gaping like a stunned judge at a talent show, Jake Wightman crossed the finish line at the 2022 world titles in first place to secure a wildly unexpected 1500m victory.
As the Scottish underdog bolted down the home straight, his dad Geoff was calling the race on the Hayward Field PA system, fighting back tears.
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Australian Stewart McSweyn, who finished ninth in the final in Eugene, will face the world champion in Melbourne on Thursday night, when they line up for the John Landy Mile at the Maurie Plant Meet.
“What Jake was able to achieve in Eugene — it showed that it is an event that’s open, that upsets do happen,” McSweyn told Wide World of Sports.
“I think in any race if you can get yourself in the mix and have a good day, there’s no reason you can’t beat anyone in the field.”
Wightman defeated reigning Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigsten in Eugene, pinching lane one from the Norwegian superstar with about 200 metres remaining and streaking to victory in 3:29.23.
Ingebrigsten swung into the second lane and extracted every ounce of energy, hoping to kick past Wightman on the home straight, but the Scot held him off to become Great Britain’s first 1500m world champion since Steve Cram in 1983.
All of a sudden, at the 2023 world titles, Great Britain had another world champion in the metric mile, when Scotland’s Josh Kerr dealt Ingebrigsten his second crushing defeat in 12 months.
“I have got to tell you why the camera is on me,” Wightman’s dad told a 20,000-strong crowd at the 2022 world titles.
“That’s my son. I coach him. And he’s the world champion.”
Wightman had finished fifth in the 1500m final of the 2019 World Athletics Championships, and 10th in the Tokyo 2020 decider.
“I was definitely surprised,” McSweyn said of Wightman’s Eugene win.
“I think that’s championship racing, though. It always throws a few curveballs.
“The difference between any guys in the final — it’s not much difference. If a guy has an awesome day and runs one, two, three, four per cent better than they’re probably expecting, they can jump five, six, seven positions, and if you’re able to do that you can be right in the mix. I think if you’re able to get in that final and you can run well, anything’s possible.”
McSweyn will take on a fiercely competitive field in Thursday night’s John Landy Mile, named in honour of the first Australian to break four minutes for the mile.
The middle-distance champion from Tasmania’s King Island will square off with Wightman, Australian Olympian Jye Edwards, Australian teen prodigy Cameron Myers and Kiwi Olympian Sam Tanner, as well as 18-year-old Queenslander Peyton Craig, a talented and tenacious up-and-comer.
McSweyn recently spent three weeks at Victoria’s Falls Creek with Melbourne Track Club, where he was running 160 kilometres a week at high altitude.
“I’m excited to start the season. I’m in a good spot for this time of year … I feel like I’ve banked some good weeks at training the last probably two months. I think I’m strong at the moment, so hopefully I can showcase that,” McSweyn said.
“It’s always interesting going into the first race; you never know how the body’s going to respond to the base training you’ve been doing.
“But I feel like training’s gone pretty well.”