On Wednesday morning, Kenyan athletes were locked out of the medals in the men’s 1500m final at the World Athletics Champions in Eugene, Oregon.
This comes after defending champion Timothy Cheruiyot finished sixth in 3 minutes 30.69 seconds, with compatriot Abel Kipsang coming in seventh in 3 minutes 31.21 seconds, the first time Kenya has failed to medal in the metric mile since the 2011 champions in Daegu, South Korea.
Wightman became the first Briton to win the 1500m race since 1983, crossing the finish line in 3:29.23 ahead of Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway who timed 3:29.47.
Abel Kipsang had taken the early lead in the race, but the Olympic champion took over with two laps to go. Cheruiyot followed him and urged Kipsang to do the same.
Cheruiyot and Ingebrigtsen were side by side at the start, but Wightman came off the outside to inject a devastating final kick.
Cheruiyot faded and lost the battle for a medal in the final 50m as Spain’s Mohamed Katir passed him up for bronze, and also allowed Mario Garcia and Josh Kerr to finish in better position.
