'Running is my job. Not being able to race makes you feel useless'

Jake Wightmanis back on the track after a frustrating 2023 with his eye on Paris and taking on Jakob Ingebrigtsen

- Sean Ingle

While the fastest athletes on the planet were deep in training for last summer’s world championships in Budapest, Jake Wightman, then the reigning 1500m champion, was undertaking an exercise in humility. It began, of all places, at his local bike shop.

“They must have been licking their lips when I walked in, because I told them I don’t know anything about bikes, but I wanted one that was all right,” he says, chuckling at the memory. “ I bought all the gear and went out.”

At this point, he was unable to run much after a succession of injuries, starting with a fractured foot while doing plyometrics last January. Having been unable to defend his world title, he yearned to get his competitive juices flowing again. Hence the bike.

“I had been exercising in the gym, but it was just miserable being on my own on an indoor bike in what felt like a hot dungeon. A round where I live is Richmond Park, where a lot of people ride, so I decided to give it a go.

“Despite my injuries, I thought I was fit and I was bragging to my mates that it would be nice to be flying around and going past people again. Yet I was struggling to stay with them up the hills. My quads were just burning, even on the flat bits where I had to put any power through them. It was very humbling.”

That was not the end of it, either. “I then went on the cycling app Zwift and was absolutely bagged by these normal athletes. I was in the C category and I still came third-last.”