Jake Wightman splits from coach

This is Stuart Weir’s piece on Jake Wightman’s departure from his coach, his father, Geoff Wightman. Athletes evolve, and relationships develop.

Jake Wightman splits from coach.

No one who was in the stadium during the 2022 World Championship men’s1500 m’s final will ever forget the moment when stadium announcer Geoff Wightman struggled to keep his composure as his son, Jake, overtook stand-out favorite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to become world 1500m champion. Wightman senior stuttered, “That is my son, and he is the world champion. And I coach him.”  The moment was captured in a video by Kath Merry.

Jake Wightman has become the World 1500m champion. Geoff calling his son becoming a World Champion is priceless. Helene, part of our team, filmed Dad. I sat with Mum Susan and then could not wait to give my mate a hug. Beyond proud. ❤️@JakeSWightman @WightmanGeoff @SusanWightman6 pic.twitter.com/8I8IT6ntwb

— Katharine Merry (@KatharineMerry) July 20, 2022

Now, the partnership is no longer in the formal sense. Jake recently posted on Instagram:

“At 14, a great race for me would see me make a Scottish School final. Since then, my Dad has grown with me through this sport, culminating in reaching the world’s top together in 2022.

The point has come in my career when, physically and mentally, we need to go our separate ways.

By doing this, we ensure there’s plenty more to come in the future, not as a coach or athlete but as a father or son, away from the intensity and stress of training and racing.

Coaches don’t get the gratitude they deserve at the best of times, but even less so when it began driving down to races across the country as a kid, to flying across the world together, all in pursuit of helping me live out my dream.

So, this is to thank Dad for all the years of selfless time and money. I hope we can reflect on our achievements together with immense pride”.

Jake could hardly have been born into a better family. His parents were international athletes, with Geoff competing in the Commonwealth Games and European Championships marathon and his mother Susan representing Team GB in the same event at the 1988 Olympics. Susan, a PE teacher at Jake’s school, was Jake’s original coach and the one who got him into the sport.

When I interviewed Geoff a few years back, he talked about the dynamics of the coaching relationship: “I think things get resolved with time.  For example, at one stage, we’d agreed that he’d focus on his speed.  So there would be more than 800 races.  He can always get into any 1500 race, but sometimes, with only eight lanes, he doesn’t get the choice of 800s.  So, he needed to post some quick times, so he’s got those options going forward.  We differed because I was mapping out a season consisting of perhaps 12-15 races, and as we got further into lockdown, he was saying I’d be happy with a 6-7 race season.  I wanted to have as many races as possible, but he probably realized sooner than I did that it would happen mainly in September.  So he was right, but circumstances changed.  In a situation like that, he’s the one who’s racing, so he would probably prevail.  In other areas of planning and the bigger picture, my opinion would carry greater weight.  But we don’t have too many disagreements or even variations of opinion”.   

A month or two after his Oregon world championship, I talked to Jake about the bizarre nature of the event, with at one stage Jake, Geoff, and Susan all giving interviews in the mixed zone after the race! Jake told me: “I don’t know how my mum got dragged into it. My mum doesn’t really get the platform to speak like that.  Many people know my dad’s background in the sport but not my mum’s. Mum went to the Seoul Olympics and is as qualified to coach as my dad, and she comes and helps out at my sessions sometimes.  She has played a big part in my upbringing in the sport because she was the PE teacher at my school.  She used to take my cross-country lessons and has come to every race I’ve run.  So she is probably as worthy as anyone to stand there and give an interview afterward”.

On the “Jake Wightman is world champion and he’s my son and I coach him” moment, Jake said: “Dad can be someone who shows no emotion so that – and the video Kath Merry took – shows he did have that moment where it hit him too.  Sometimes, when sitting up there, I never know if he’s so professional, stone cold, or Mike in hand that he’s not getting into the emotion of it.  But he certainly did that day”. I asked Jake about the odd situation of having his dad and coach commentate on his races; did he hear the commentary? “Fortunately not!  The good thing about racing is that you’re so focused that you blur everything else out”.

Since that fantastic summer of 2022 when Jake won the World Championship 1500m, came third in the Commonwealth 1500, second in the European Championships 800m, and won the Fifth Avenue mile, little has gone right with injury preventing him from running in the 2023 World Championships and the 2024 Olympics.  Last October, he moved his training base to Manchester to be closer to his physio, Alex O’Gorman, but no new coach has been announced.