EUGENE, Ore. (AP) — The look of disbelief on British 1,500-meter champion Jake Wightman’s face as he crossed the finish line captured the evening best.
“Crazy,” he said.
Nothing quite went to script, yet everything seemed almost perfect on a wild Tuesday night at the world championships.
The in-stadium announcer for Wightman’s race was none other than his dad, Geoff. Handing Jake Wightman the gold medal after the race was none other than British middle-distance great Sebastian Coe, who also happens to be the World Athletics President and one of Wightman’s mentors.
“What else could I ask for?” Jake Wightman said.
Almost lost in all those good feelings was that Olympic champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen of Norway finished second in this one and his countryman, Karsten Warholm, seventh in the night’s last race, the 400-meter hurdles.
Wightman’s win arrived because he decided to take a chance and go all-out with about 200 meters to go.
“I thought, ‘I’m going to give this a go. If I end up finishing fourth, whatever. I gave it a go to try to win,’” Wightman said.
Other surprises included 100-meter champion Fred Kerley suffering a cramp in the semifinals of the 200 and not advancing.
And Warholm’s loss — chalked up to a bad hamstring that’s been bugging him this season — was a win for Alison Dos Santos of Brazil. Not that huge of a surprise, though it did open the door for American Trevor Bassitt to take surprise third, then withstand a tackle from the silver medalist, teammate Rai Benjamin.
“Just amazing,” Benjamin said. “So proud of him.”
Warholm, Benjamin and Dos Santos have formed the Big Three in the event. So any time they don’t end up on the podium it’s a shocker.
The 24-year-old Bassitt used the underdog card to his advantage. After the race, he replicated NBA standout Steph Curry’s iconic “night, night” gesture.
No one will sleep on him again.
“I knew for me there really wasn’t that much pressure from the outside,” Bassitt said. “I knew if I got a medal people would be shocked. I knew if I didn’t get a medal it would be like, ‘OK, he really wasn’t supposed to.’ I feel like I belong in that pedigree in that group of three. I feel like today proved it.”
Dos Santos powered down the homestretch to take the title and finish in a championship-record time of 46.29 seconds. That broke Kevin Young’s world-championship record of 47.18 seconds set in 1993 in Germany.
No wonder Dos Santos gave two bows to the crowd.
“The energy of the crowd was amazing,” Dos Santos said. “I felt their love, people hugging me. When you win, you start being everyone’s favorite.”
