Jake Wightman is set to return to action in Monaco
(Picture: Getty Images)Jake Wightman will take on Kenya’s Emmanuel Korir over 1,000m in an intriguing clash of the newly-crowned middle-distance world champions at a star-studded Monaco Diamond League this evening - and believes it is his ideal distance.
Wightman won a shock world gold over 1500m in Oregon last month, while Korir claimed the 800m title and the duo head the field in what is a rarely contested event.
“Ideally, I’d have said 1km - if I could have any championship distance that I choose,” Wightman said. “I still enjoy running 800m and obviously 1500m. I’m hoping the 1500m strength still comes into play when these guys aren’t used to that.”
“It’s going to feel quick. It’s exciting, it’s a fun event to see how quick we can go round the quickest track, the quickest stadium in the world.”
The majority of Britain’s best-known names, including Olympic and world medallists Laura Muir and Keely Hodgkinson, are skipping one of athletics’ most illustrious meets to focus on next week’s European Championships in Munich, which come fast off the back of the Commonwealth Games.
However, the card is littered with international stars, with Wightman and Korir just two of a dozen world champions set to compete.
Kenya’s Faith Kipyegon could target the world record in the 1500m after running the fourth-fastest time in history at the Stade Louis II last year, while Jamaican sprint pair Shericka Jackson and Shelley-Ann Fraser-Pryce will meet over 100m.
Potentially the race of the night will come when the men’s world champions over 200m and 400m, Noah Lyles and Michael Norman, clash over the shorter distance for the first time since 2019.
"Every time I step on the track now is to get closer and closer to the world record,” said Lyles, whose 19.31 to win gold in Oregon made him the third-fastest man of all-time.
