'Silver medal feels like gold after very bleak two years'

JAKE Wightman insists his stunning World Athletics Championships silver medal is a reward for not giving up through two years of injury hell

- writes Charlie Bennett of Sportsbeat.

The Loughborough University alumni delivered Great Britain's first medal in Tokyo three years after winning gold and admits he did not think he would ever get back to the elite level.

A serious foot injury robbed Wightman of the chance to defend his title in 2023, with teammate Josh Kerr nipping in to take his crown, while a hamstring strain forced him out of the Olympics last year.

But back fit and firing, he produced one of the races of his life and was only pipped to a remarkable gold by Portugal's Isaac Nader by just two hundredths of a second.

"That's what was kept me going,” said Wighman.

“I felt like I still had something like this in me.