In the space of just three-and-a-half minutes on a hot, humid evening in Tokyo earlier this week, we saw everything that makes sport so compelling.
We saw the joy, the anguish, the despair, the relief and everything else in between in these few minutes.
And most significantly of all, we saw exactly what makes sport the most magical thing on the planet.
Jake Wightman won silver in the men’s 1500m and there will not, I contend, be a more fitting, magnificent and deserved result in the next decade of track and field.
Firstly, to the race itself.
It was one of the most unusual 1500m final line-ups in recent memory. No former Olympic champion and 1500m great, Jakob Ingebrigtsen. No 2024 Olympic champion, Cole Hocker. No fastest man this year, Azeddine Habz. No Olympic bronze medallist, Yared Nuguse.
Indeed, it was reigning champion Josh Kerr who, alongside new kid on the block Neils Laros, was garnering most of the spotlight and labelled as favourite for gold.
But what happened in those three-and-a half minutes shows why sport remains the greatest entertainment of all.
Kerr picked up an injury around the halfway mark and was forced to hobble to the finish line.
And then, in one of the most open 1500m fields in years, Wightman saw his chance. And he took it.
As the 31-year-old from Edinburgh approached the final bend, he was positioned perfectly towards the front of the pack. With 200m to go, he was in first place. He remained there until the final stride. Ultimately, he was caught by Portugal’s Isaac Nadir, who pipped the Scot to gold by a mere two hundredths of a second.
But Wightman won silver in what is one of the most remarkable performances in Scottish athletics’ history.
In terms of achievement, it perhaps even trumps his world title-winning run in 2022, which ensured he’d forever be considered a Scottish, and British, track and field great.
Back then, Wightman went into the final widely recognised as one of the men to watch. His defeat of race favourite, Ingebrigtsen, was surprising, but not shocking given Wightman’s pedigree.
From almost the moment Wightman collected that gold medal in 2022, though, things went awry.
A string of injuries saw him unable to defend his world title in 2023, and he then was forced to withdraw from the Paris Olympics last summer at the last minute. The devastation of being denied the chance to add the one thing that’s missing from his medal collection - an Olympic medal - was obvious.
The bad luck continued, with Wightman only in Tokyo this week asa. consequence of being awarded the selectors pick for the GB team after illness prevented him from being able to race at the selection event, the British Championships. Ultimately, he made it to Tokyo, but predictions of Wightman really doing anything this week had been made more in hope than anything else.
I spoke to Wightman in these pages just a few months ago. He talked of the struggle of the past three years, and the mental anguish he’d been through as he sat on the sidelines, unable to truly enjoy being world champion due to his injuries. He became something of the forgotten man, particularly after Kerr became world champion in 2023, thus ensuring the world 1500m title remained in Scottish hands.
Just making the start line at these World Championships would, said Wightman, feel like success given everything he’d endured since winning his world title. It was hard, at the time, to disagree. Any talk of a medal would have seemed fanciful, to the point of delusion.
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But Wightman, despite being outwardly understated, humble and without a hint of arrogance, is a far tougher cookie than he may come across publicly. No one reaches the level in sport he has without being hard as nails.
In the 1500m final a few days ago, he demonstrated that grit. He showed that he’s an absolutely exceptional athlete, but an even greater racer. All these qualities were on display in the most glorious way possible in that 1500m final.
It was understandable, for Wightman and for every person watching, to feel a twinge of disappointment at silver, given he was so close to gold.
And there are, of course, so many ‘what ifs’. What if Wightman had delayed his kick by just a few meters - would he have then be able to hang on to the lead until they crossed the line? What if Nader had been forced to go just a touch wider - would that have slowed him enough to have given Wightman the win? What if Wightman had been afforded just a month or two more of full training - would he then have had enough in the tank to hang on?
We’ll never know.
But in so many ways, it doesn’t matter, because while another world title would have been the ultimate fairytale ending, this silver medal is a fairytale in its own right. It’s one of Wightman’s greatest-ever achievements, perhaps even greater than his world title when taking into consideration what he’s endured since then. Yet again, Wightman has, brilliantly, written himself into the history books in a way so few expected.
This silver medal is significant for Scottish athletics, as it extends the remarkable run of Scottish athletes winning major championships medals. But it’s even more significant for Wightman personally. Prior to these World Championships, he conceded that had he suffered another injury setback this season, his career would, more than likely, be finished. And following this final, he’s admitted that an early exit at these championships would have seen him hang up his spikes.
But this silver medal is proof that he still has what it takes, both physically and mentally, to compete, and beat, the best in the world.
This result means Wightman is far from finished as an athlete. And that’s the best possible news for Wightman himself, athletics in general and Scottish sport as a whole.
There is no down-side to having Wightman at the top of this sport for a good few more years, particularly given he’s one of the most popular, liked and genuinely decent guys in athletics.
Wightman is everything that a young athlete should aspire to be, both personally and professionally.
The thing with sport is that the good guys don’t always get rewarded. But this time, it did pay off for the good guy and in Wightman, there’s not an athlete on the planet who’s more deserving of this success. Here’s hoping that this time, he truly gets to enjoy it.
