Edinburgh's Jake Wightman takes silver in Sheffield as Olympic finalist has crack at longer distance

Edinburgh athlete Jake Wightman finished in second place and recorded the fifth fastest ever time for a Scot in his first attempt at indoor 3000 metres.

Jake Wightman represented Great Britain at the 2020 Toyko Olympic Games. Picture: Getty

The Olympic 1500m finalist debuted at the distance on Sunday during the BMC Indoor Grand Prix in Sheffield. Wightman ran 7:50.97 but was caught at the finish line by Italy’s Ossama Meslek

The runner – who also made his 10k road race debut two weeks ago – is looking to improve his long-distance endurance after missing out on the medals at the Tokyo games, finishing in tenth place after struggling down the stretch.

“I felt I lacked a bit of strength at the finish of that Olympic final,” said Wightman. “So I want to do things this winter to address that.”

There was similar success for the Capital’s teenage prospect Katie Johnson, who ran second in the women’s 800m with a time of 2:09.74. It was the ninth best all-time run for an under-20 indoor women’s run at the distance.

Jenny Selman, who works as a funding manager for Edinburgh Leisure, clocked up an indoor personal best of 4:14.81 to win the women’s 1500m.

Heptathlete Callum Newby put in a strong performance over his two days, finishing fifth in the overall table and taking gold among the under-23 age group with a points tally of 5275, also a personal best.

There was a podium finish too for East Lothian’s Adam Hoole in the under-20s age group. He took bronze with 5377 points, finishing behind fellow Scot Murray Fotheringham, who was just 19 points shy of the under-20s record.

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