Don't rule out Matt Stonier making the team, 3.31 last season u23 and arguably improved more than anybody last year. It's not nailed on that anyone makes the team.
The biggest under the radar underdog lurking in the shadows (both nationally and corporately) of giants.
this man has a chip on his shoulder, appears to be laser focused on the objective, and is in a scary sweet spot for improvement having already adapted to high mileage.
I am alllllllll about this prediction, full subscribe my man.
Hope “The 5k Guys” YouTube channel gets some attention after this weekend.
He’s probably the reason uk athletics is so nervous about whatever sketchy discussion is going on regarding guaranteeing Kerr’s no-trials selection if he plays ball with world indoors. one of Mills, Gourley or Whiteman doesn’t go to the olympics for 1500, let alone the young kids that ran lights out times in diamond leagues last year (see: stonier).
Kerr and Wightman should make the team and then Mills has to contend with Gourley and the others narrowly behind.
It's going to be interesting to see where Wightman is at. A year without racing at his age is a big deal. I certainly wouldn't put him as a certainty at this stage. But there's little to choose between Gourley, Mills, Giles, Stonier, and Hayward. Then there's people like Elson and Copeland who are under the radar but dangerous.
I agree with this.... Wightman has it all to prove at this stage.
I'm a huge fan of his but until he's back running 3.30ish consistently (not a given at all, considering his age and the year out), I put Kerr, Mills and Stonier as the likeliest 3 to go
Kerr and Wightman should make the team and then Mills has to contend with Gourley and the others narrowly behind.
I don´t know why people are so oprimistic about Wightman!
He was an also ran the most of his career. In august of the first covid year 2020 he - out of the blue at the age of 26 - ran 3:29.47 in the1500m improving his PB with almost 2.5 seconds. He also improved his 800m PB in the same period to 1:44.18.
Next year 2021 - the olympic year - he was unable to reproduce these fast times and he disappointed in the 1500m final far behind the medalists.
In 2022 he didn´t run any far times before the WC in Eugene. Here he improved his SB with more than 3 seconds famously beating Jakob in the 1500m final setting a new PB in 3:29.23. (Just one month before in the DL Oslo he ran a mile time of 3:50.30 which converts to a 1500m in 3:33.24. So in one month he improved with 4 seconds from a race where he got perfect pacing from Jakob and Hoare which he couldn´t hold on to).
Later in the 2022 season he set a new PB in the 800m in 1:43.65 (an improvement of just over 0.5 seconds from his 2020 PB).
In 2023 he started the season with a very mediocre 3000m time and then he was reportedly injured the rest of the season.
So why do you and many others think that Wigthman at 30 comes back in the shape he had some few months in 2020 and 2022 respectively and not in the shape he has had for most of his career where he was not a top guy.
Don't rule out Matt Stonier making the team, 3.31 last season u23 and arguably improved more than anybody last year. It's not nailed on that anyone makes the team.
I don´t know why people are so oprimistic about Wightman!
He was an also ran the most of his career. In august of the first covid year 2020 he - out of the blue at the age of 26 - ran 3:29.47 in the1500m improving his PB with almost 2.5 seconds. He also improved his 800m PB in the same period to 1:44.18.
Next year 2021 - the olympic year - he was unable to reproduce these fast times and he disappointed in the 1500m final far behind the medalists.
In 2022 he didn´t run any far times before the WC in Eugene. Here he improved his SB with more than 3 seconds famously beating Jakob in the 1500m final setting a new PB in 3:29.23. (Just one month before in the DL Oslo he ran a mile time of 3:50.30 which converts to a 1500m in 3:33.24. So in one month he improved with 4 seconds from a race where he got perfect pacing from Jakob and Hoare which he couldn´t hold on to).
Later in the 2022 season he set a new PB in the 800m in 1:43.65 (an improvement of just over 0.5 seconds from his 2020 PB).
In 2023 he started the season with a very mediocre 3000m time and then he was reportedly injured the rest of the season.
So why do you and many others think that Wigthman at 30 comes back in the shape he had some few months in 2020 and 2022 respectively and not in the shape he has had for most of his career where he was not a top guy.
I don’t agree at all with your narrative here! (And I am saying this as a Norwegian who root for Jakob when he is up against the brits Wightman and Kerr..).
Wightman has never been an also ran. And he has most certainly showed his stellar potential in more than a few months in 2020 and 2022.
1. The most important race you don’t know about is this: Diamond league 1500m at Bislett games June 15 2017: He won this race with an even better kick than in WC 2022. And here is some of the athletes he beat: Manangoi (WC gold the same year), Filip Ingebrigtsen (WC bronze 2017), Kiplagat (3.27 pb), Lewandowski (Wc bronze 2019 and a supreme kicker), Iguider (Oly and WC medalist), Souleiman (ranked among the top three in the world multiple years, and WC medalist), Holusa (WC indoors silver twice)…
2. Jake has some huge 800m wins also apart from 2020/2022. And a really fast 1000m where he took down some big names.
3. He was only one meter shy of taking down the two global medalists Jakob and Lewandowski in Euros 2018 (1500m).
4. His 2022 season was remarkable, although he wasn’t in peak shape all the time (you mentioned his 1.43.6 but you failed to mention that he also peaked in the other end of his range -7.37 -makes him almost one of a kind!).
5. Yes, he failed in Oly 2021, but only because his endurance didn’t match his one race ability (That was so good that he looked like a favourite after an impressive semifinal run). -He fixed that problem in 2022!
6. In 2022 WC he met a Jakob in the shape of his life (according to Jakob himself) in the 1500m, and unlike Kerr the year after Jake was able to pas Jakob before the home straight.
I don’t know if Jake Wightman comes back in his previous shape or eventually even better, or if Jakob does. But I sure hope both do -I want to see the athletes fulfil their potential. I even hope Kerr runs 3.27 (Jakob will still beat him easily if everything goes the right way..!).
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