Jake Wightman claims he knew a personal best was within his reach ahead of smashing his own record in storming to a first ever Diamon League victory over 1500m in Oslo.
The 22-year-old Scot ran a career best time of 3:34.17 in the Norwegian capital, fending off a high-profile field including reigning European champion and home crowd favourite Filip Ingebrigsten, who finished fourth.
The middle-distance runner also overcame 2015 world silver medallist Elijah Manangoi, of Kenya, who finished in second as he left a reputable line up of runners finished in his wake.
"In utter shock. Cannot believe I've just won a Diamond League,” an overjoyed Wightman said.
“I only got in the race on Monday and felt pretty lucky to be in it. I knew a PB was on the cards but I thought they would run away from me.
“When it got to 200m to go and I was still in it, I thought I’d better try to win it. I managed to pull away but was scared that someone might catch me.
“My race plan was to start off pretty settled because I knew if they went off hard they would come back. I am usually quite strong on the last lap so I put all my money on that – to come through on the last 300m.
“I felt pretty good on the home straight so I just about got away with it.”
The former European champion from Poland, Marcin Lewandowski, finished third, while Wightman’s fellow Brit Charlie Grice finished in sixth with a time of 3:37.78.
It was a memorable occasion for the former European Junior champion Wightman, who ran to victory with Lord Sebastian Coe and Steve Cram watching on from the stands.
“I have known Steve for some time as his son went to my school – perhaps since I was 13, but Seb Coe is a massive, massive idol of mine,” Wightman added. “If he were ever to say a compliment about me it would mean a lot. Hopefully I impressed him tonight.”
Elsewhere in the men’s 100m, Chijindu Ujah missed out on a second successive Diamon League victory as Canada’s Andre De Grasse ran 10.01s to beat the Brit by one hundredth of a second.
Ujah’s time equal his season's best – posted while winning in Rome, last week – while teammate Adam Gemili, was fourth in a time of 10.13s and Reece Prescod came home seventh in 10.20s.
And there was another second place in the 400m as Matthew Hudson-Smith clocked a season’s best of 45.16s, while Robbie Grabarz cleared 2.25m for seventh in the high jump.
Three Brits took to the long jump run up as Shara Proctor leaped to 6.53m for fourth, with Lorraine Ugen registering a best of 6.50m for sixth and Jazmin Sawyers finishing tenth with 6.20m.
Bianca Williams finished fifth in the women’s 200m with a time of 23.38s, and there was another season’s best for Lynsey Sharp in the 800m as she clocked 2:00.41 for eighth place.
Finally, Tiffany Porter clocked 12.93 to finish fifth in the 100m hurdles, with the next target on the horizon another Diamond League in Stockholm, on Sunday, ahead of the European Team Championships next weekend.
Sportsbeat 2017