Wightman hopes Scotland can showcase 'ridiculous' talent

Jake Wightman hopes this summer's Commonwealth Games in Glasgow can help showcase the "ridiculous" amount of top-class middle-distance talent Scotland has managed to produce.

The 2022 world 1500m champion will be among the star attractions in the mile event at next month's Games.

It could be a mouthwatering race, with fellow Scots Josh Kerr - a former world champion and double Olympic medallist - and Neil Gourley, who has world and European indoor 1500m medals to his name, also targeting home success.

Wightman said: "It is a shame that, potentially across Scotland, if you asked the average person what events Scotland is good at, what sports Scotland is good at, they would say the football is going well, the rugby is going well, but the athletics over the last five or six years has been so good.

"I hope that people are aware of that. If they are not, then there is enough hype around these races on our home soil that they can actually realise that we do have some of the best middle-distance athletes in the world.

"For a population of our size, it is ridiculous that we have all been able to come through the system in Scotland and challenge for world and Olympic titles.

"It is something I think we take for granted, and I think it is only when athletes of my sort of age look back after this Olympics that you realise we actually had a really good crop of athletes that we deserve to celebrate."

The 31-year-old added: "Myself, Neil and Josh are products of that system, so if we can go out there and showcase how good a job the whole country has done to get us to this point, it is not just our victories, medals and finals to celebrate - it is everyone who has hopefully played a little part at some point."

Wightman has amassed an impressive array of top-class medals, a collection which includes 1500m bronze at each of the previous two Commonwealth Games.

He also won silver at the World Championships in Tokyo last September, an achievement which marked a welcome return to the podium for the first time in three years after an injury-disrupted spell.

Nine months on, the significance of that success in Japan is holding him in good stead as he aims for glory in Glasgow.

He explained: "The one thing it has given me is the reassurance I still have it. There were points when I was sidelined when I was thinking: 'Am I coming back?' - doing all this rehab and all this boring cross-training only to not be back where I want to be.

"The fact I was able to get to that point has just given me the reassurance that if I have consistent training and don't have these problems, then I can be even better than I have ever been, which I am hoping is the case.

"I have had probably the best winter I have ever had, and generally that is a good sign for this summer. It is just about making the right decisions, racing the most sensible calendar you can, and making sure that when you get to those Games you haven't got anything to worry about."