By Chris Chavez
July 5, 2023
1500m world champion Jake Wightman will not defend his 1500m gold medal at next month’s World Athletics Championships in Budapest as he continues to recover from a foot injury.
Here’s what you need to know:
– Wightman has not raced this outdoor season after suffering a foot injury during a training camp in South Africa in January. He had a bye to the world championships as the reigning champion but will not be healthy in time to compete.
– Last year, he stunned Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen in the final 200m to win the 1500m gold medal. His father, Geoff, was behind the mic as the stadium announcer at Hayward Field.
– He also went on to win a bronze medal in the 1500m at the Commonwealth Games and a silver medal in the 800m at the European Championships.
What he wrote:
“Sadly I’m going to have to wait a bit longer for a moment like this...
As a result of my injury I sustained in February, I’ve had to deal with several more setbacks as I prepared to race this Summer. I’ve always felt as though time has been on my side to overcome my problems fully, however, it has finally run out.
This means I’m sadly going to be unable to compete at Worlds which has been really gutting to come to terms with.
Although I’m very disappointed not be able to try and defend my title, my focus has to be on getting my body rested and ready for 2024, to ensure I’ll be back performing at my best.
The are some risks I could’ve taken to be on that Budapest start line, however, the potential to jeopardize my Olympic year makes this the obvious decision.
I’m currently taking some downtime before starting my rehab, ready to be back running safely and pain-free by the end of August.
Big thanks to all my team and British Athletics who have worked really hard to try and give me every chance of competing.
I’ll see you back on the start line soon.”
![Jake Wightman](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/bpfwm1du/production/a99c08036c28494f862e8f859c5760c6a7b39c54-1892x1678.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&w=946)
Johnny Zhang/@jzsnapz
Our Take:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen is on a revenge arc right now. His 3:27.95 from Oslo and his 3:28.72 from Lausanne are head and shoulders above the rest of the world for the fastest times this year. It’s unfortunate that we won’t get the rematch. In Oslo, when he was asked whether he was looking forward to taking on Wightman at a championship again, Ingebrigtsen responded, “I look forward to take down everyone and doing what I should’ve done a long time ago.”
Team GB should be in good hands. They have three men who have run under 3:34 on the season. Josh Kerr is rounding into form for championship season and coming off a 3:29.64 in Lausanne, which was his best performance since his bronze medal at the Tokyo Games. – Chris Chavez
![Chris Chavez](https://cdn.sanity.io/images/bpfwm1du/production/b995e65d45ca40ff5dfb5596b98be0f77f0c5731-2400x3865.jpg?auto=format&fit=max&q=75&rect=0,0,2400,2217&w=1200)
Chris Chavez
Chris Chavez launched CITIUS MAG in 2016 as a passion project while working full-time for Sports Illustrated. He covered the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and grew his humble blog into a multi-pronged media company. He completed all six World Marathon Majors and is an aspiring sub-five-minute miler.