Jake Wightman After His 1500m World Championship Silver Medal | Race Recap + Comeback Reflections

The CITIUS MAG Podcast | A Running + Track and Field Show

CITIUS MAG

Running, Sports

4.8 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 19 September 2025

⏱️ 35 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

It’s not unreasonable to say that no one could’ve predicted this podium. That’s not to say that Isaac Nader, Jake Wightman, and Reynold Cheruiyot aren’t all medal-worthy contenders in their own rights, just that the series of circumstances that had to stack on top of one another to make this particular outcome happen was highly improbable.

Without Jakob Ingebrigtsen to assume the role of pacemaker, the field hit 400 meters in a relatively pedestrian 59.45, and each successive second that the tempo lagged injected a little extra variability into the last lap. No one saw Kerr’s untimely calf injury coming: the Scotsman is remarkably consistent in global finals, with his lowest finish of the decade being sixth in 2022. And heading into the last lap, one measly second separated the top 12 contenders.

Nader and Wightman are both known for their footspeed, and the race was set up perfectly for them to take advantage. In particular, Wightman has looked like a rejuvenated runner throughout these championships after missing the last two British teams with injuries and changing coaches in 2024. Nader won the Oslo Dream Mile earlier this season and has finished near the front of a few other Diamond Leagues, but this was still only the second global final of his career and doesn’t have the shiny PBs of some of his competitors.

But that didn’t matter on the homestretch, when Niels Laros looked vulnerable for the first time in months, eventually fading to fifth, and Nader swung into lane three for the first time after riding the rail to power past both Cheruiyots and nip Wightman at the line by 0.02 seconds. Even though this is an event where fans often feel passionately about their favorite athlete, we can all appreciate the fact that, when the dust settled, the crazy ride was fun for everyone.

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Host: Chris Chavez | ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠@chris_j_chavez on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

Guest: Jake Wightman | @jakeswightman on Instagram

Produced by: Jasmine Fehr |⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ ⁠⁠⁠@jasminefehr on Instagram⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠

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PRESENTED BY ASICS

For the third consecutive year, CITIUS MAG is proud to partner with ASICS for our global championship coverage. With their support, we’re able to bring you the best coverage of the 2025 World Athletics Championships. Support our sponsor and check out ASICS’s latest including the MegaBlast and SonicBlast. Shop at ASICS.com

Transcript

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0:00.0	There are some things you'll never understand. Like, why did that person ghost me? When did
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0:30.8	All right, we are joined by 2022 World Champion and now 2025 World championship silver medalist and good friend
0:39.5	Jake Whiteman congratulations epic race the fit men's 1500 is one of the races that everyone
0:45.5	looks forward to and you guys absolutely delivered with just drama the theatrics and how
0:51.8	the whole race played out but like have you found the words to describe I guess the moment and how the whole race played out. But like, have you found the words
0:54.7	to describe, I guess, the moment and like what this race means to you? Honestly, my initial
1:00.1	feeling straight after was like, I should have won that. And then I've seen it back since and
1:05.2	like, I did everything I possibly could have. Like, I don't think there's anything else I could
1:08.7	have done to improve my chance to winning that.
1:10.9	But a lot of it is not even my own performance, but everyone that's helped me get back
1:15.3	to this point is that probably pride with it.
1:16.9	And it's even now like coming back in here, there's people saying like they've thought
1:20.3	about it more than that, oh, it's actually sick.
1:22.7	Like how far I've come from the last couple years.
1:25.7	And I remember sitting with you guys in Budapest.
1:28.0	Yeah. I haven't raced since then like a championship. So yeah, it felt like a lot of a lot of trauma these last couple years that has kind of been washed away a little bit is what I'd say. Best therapy in it is running well. I mean this the last few years has been such a roller coaster up for you, right? Up and downs.
1:45.2	Has there been times where you've thought about, like, man, I don't know if I'm ever going to make it back to the level that I was at?
	...

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