\nTeam Scotland have partnered with Last Rep Coffee, co-owned by Wightman, ahead of the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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In typically self-aware fashion, he knows that the Moroccan\u2019s mark, set back in 1999, is beyond his reach. But when it comes to racing, the 31-year-old is equally confident that he can go toe-to-toe with anyone in the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou wouldn’t get to the point in the sport that we’ve got to if you don’t believe in yourself completely, but my thing is that I’d rather just let my legs on the track do the talking,\u201d said Wightman, who co-owns Last Rep Coffee, who have partnered with Team Scotland ahead of the Games.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo, I think rather than speaking about what I’m going to do, the only thing I can do is prove it by racing well. It’s just not my personality to talk myself up too much. I just crack on with it, and I don’t think people shouldn’t do that, because it is a great thing for it.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would find a mile world record attempt pretty tough and I think Josh will obviously find it tough, but if he does it, it’s an amazing achievement because that is a world record stood for a long time and you’ve got to be very, very good at just running hard on your own to be able to do that.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can honestly say, I don’t think I’m the type of athlete that has that sort of running in me. I love the competition side of it, so I really, really need people around to race against. It’s just there’s something about the motivation of other people around you that really pulls the best out of me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wightman and Kerr will forever be linked, the latter having succeeded the former as world champion over 1500m in 2023, 12 months after Wightman\u2019s magical success in Eugene, Oregon.<\/p>\n
The aftermath of that world title for Wightman has been well-documented, a succession of injuries ruining not only the defence of his global crown but also cruelly denying him an Olympic shot in Paris two years ago.<\/p>\n
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\nTeam Scotland’s kilts have been revealed ahead of the 2026 Commonwealth Games<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/div>\n
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Such was the frustration at his body letting him down, that Wightman considered calling it a day with 2026 earmarked as a fitting swansong as he went full circle in Glasgow.<\/p>\n
But the last 12 months have changed all that. A change of coach \u2013 splitting with father Geoff \u2013 and respite from the injury bug allowed Wightman to perform in a global final for the first time since the summer he was crowned world champion. He came within 0.02 seconds of doing it again, eventually taking silver in Tokyo behind Portugal\u2019s Isaac Nader last September.<\/p>\n
It was a run that allowed him to believe in himself once more, making this return to Glasgow both an objective in itself but also another stepping stone towards his Olympic goal in Los Angeles in 2028.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI think the main thing that the summer did was it just gave me the reassurance that I wasn’t delusional about where I could get back to, I believed that I could get back to being one of the competitors for global titles and winning medals. And that didn’t seem like it was potentially true until last summer. Now I believe I still have my best running and I’m at the level that I want to be still.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can’t live the rest of my career scared of getting hurt again, because otherwise I’ll never reach the points I want to get to. I think a lot of it was I got off that conveyor belt of injury after injury.\u201d<\/p>\n
Twelve years ago, Wightman made his Commonwealth debut when he had just turned 20 and did not make it out of the heats. He is now gearing up to return as the wily old racer with a chance to join some of the greatest to ever do it in the history books, and yet that is not what drives him.<\/p>\n
He added: \u201cI think that it’s not even winning Commonwealths and being part of those lists, it\u2019s winning a title in a Scotland vest, that’s the thing that motivates me the most. Being able to do that, especially in Scotland and then having Flower of Scotland playing. I think that’s probably the biggest motivation for me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Between Wightman and Kerr, there is every chance that Flower of Scotland will ring out at Scotstoun Stadium to celebrate the mile victor. Which one triumphs may come down to the style of the fight.<\/p>\n
Follow Team Scotland’s journey at Glasgow 2026 at @team_scotland<\/a> on Instagram<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n