By Mitch Phillips
EUGENE, Oregon (Reuters) – Sebastian Coe, the head of world athletics and twice Olympic champion over 1,500 metres, said it was spectacular to have a British male winner over the distance at the World Championships, particularly an athlete he knows very well.
Jake Wightman was a surprise gold medallist at the distance where Coe twice won Olympic gold, surging past Norwegian favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen with a perfectly-judged performance worthy of Coe at his world-dominating best.
It was also one of the most memorable and emotional moments of the week as Jake’s father Geoff was the stadium commentator and announced: “Wow. That’s my son and he’s a world champion” – and Coe then presented the gold medal on the Hayward Field track.
“To have a British athlete holding that title for the first time since 1983 was spectacular,” Coe said, referring to Steve Cram’s success in the first World Championships.
“I know Jake extremely well. I know Geoff his father and Jan, Jake’s mother, was my eldest daughter’s first PE teacher, so I was delighted.
“I was also pleased at Europe’s breakthrough in middle distance and endurance again – the top five all Europeans. I think that’s really important where we’re spreading the Good News.”
It was the first European top five in a middle or long distance world final since the 1983 worlds.
Sticking with his golden distance, though he was always considered a stronger force over 800 metres, Coe also said that the women’s 1,500 metres event won by Kenyan Faith Kipyegon “blew him away” and that he was particularly impressed by Briton Laura Muir’s decision to go with the early searing pace and reap the reward with a bronze medal.
Holding a news conference ahead of Sunday’s final session of events, Coe, as he usually is, was asked how his sport could fill the void left by the retirement of Usain Bolt in 2017.
“It’s an inevitable discussion,” he said. “It’s a bit like talking about Muhammad Ali when he left the scene in boxing, you had a richness of boxers that followed up, but nobody’s going to be Muhammad Ali again.
“We recognise the unique nature of what Usain Bolt brought to our sport and contributed to it but I had to tell you, as president of a global sport, I actually am optimistic about the bandwidth of talent that is coming through.
“Where do I start? We have Mondo Duplantis – he’s a rock star. There are absolutely athletes out there. Look at the performances we’ve witnessed in just the last few days – whether it’s Noah Lyles, Erriyon Knighton, Shaunae Miller-Uibo, Sydney McLaughlin.
“I’m not saying it’s a void but it is inevitable because he was such a unique character, person and talent but you’ve got a whole heap of young athletes out there.”
(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Christian Schmollinger)
