Jake Wightman revealed that watching Tommy Fury's BBC documentary inspired him to chase his destiny after securing silver in the 1500m at the World Athletics Championships in Tokyo. The Scotsman capitalised on a calf injury to teammate Josh Kerr to claim Britain's first medal in a thrilling final.
Kerr was forced to pull up with 600m remaining but bravely hobbled across the line, almost a minute behind the leaders. Wightman was beaten to the line by Portugal's Isaac Nader by just two hundredths of a second but said his podium place was a reward for persevering through two years of injury hell.
The 31-year-old won this title three years ago but a stress fracture in his foot ruled him out for 18 months, before a hamstring strain cost him his Olympic dream last summer. Fit and firing, he made the final here and said the words of Fury's boxing coach John Fury in the TV show 'The Good. The Bad. The Fury' revved him up.
“I watched Tommy Fury’s documentary on BBC and it was his dad, John Fury, Tyson's coach,” he said. “He said your destiny is set in stone. You can do everything to change it and everyone else can do everything to change it, but what's going to happen, that'll be. I watched that and I was like, you know what, tonight, it's meant to be and if I'm meant to win it, I'm meant to get a medal, then that's what's going to happen.”
Wightman stayed close to the front throughout, making his move on the final lap. He took the lead on the back straight and powered around the final bend, but Nader surged down the outside in the final 100m to edge him out. “I felt like I still had something like this in me. All I knew today was I was going to run to try and win,” Wightman added.
