Jake Wightman has ruled out a late bid to compete at March’s European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, insisting rushing his return from injury would be madness.
The 24-year-old would have started among the favourites for home success after landing outdoor Euro 1500 metres bronze last summer to establish himself among the middle-distance elite.
Instead, he’s been sent for a rehab stint at Bisham Abbey to sort out a strained glute that’s set to sideline him until the summer.
And he admitted: “I keep thinking to myself, if it wasn't in Glasgow, would I be as bothered? But I think I probably would be.
“I'm almost glad I've got a diagnosis that means I have to miss it, because if it was something that put me out for a couple of weeks and there was still a chance I could do it, I think it could get pretty frustrating.”
Instead the Edinburgh AC hopeful concedes boredom has been the biggest pain as he takes the slow lane to be fit for the Diamond League campaign and a potential 800-1500m double at the IAAF world championships in Doha.
Fixing the problem has been a mix of high and low tech with state-of-the-art ultrasound systems mixed in with a Nordic ski machine he secured on the Internet to keep his fitness on track.
“I went on eBay and for 60 quid I got one down in Portsmouth,” he revealed. “I drove there, and it was like an old couple that had had it in their garage for months, so it was rusty and all sort of squeaky, so I oiled it up, gave it a little clean, and I went on it.”
The most optimistic diagnosis is that the British No.1 will be back in time for the start of the summer and the renewal of his rivalry with club-mates Chris O’Hare and Josh Kerr, as well as rising Scots prospect Neil Gourley.
And with the outdoor season pushed back to fit in with the latest-ever date for the world’s, sitting out indoors could stop him from burning out too soon, Wightman acknowledged.
“The plan wasn't do to that,” he said. “The plan was to be able to peak twice and almost go again, but if any year this was going to happen, I'd rather it was this year because next year, with the Olympics being that bit earlier, it would be pretty tough to come back for.
“I think the fact that we've got the championships at the end of September means this isn't the worst thing in the world to happen, but it's to make sure I don't have any disruptions in the build up from now until then.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here