'I toasted silver by singing 'Gold' in karaoke bar'

Great Britain's Jake Wightman celebrated his World Championship 1500m silver by singing Spandau Ballet hit 'Gold' as he "butchered songs" into the early hours of the morning in a karaoke bar.

The 31-year-old went agonisingly close to a second World Championship title but was pipped on the line by Portugal's Isaac Nader in Tokyo.

Despite missing the gold by two hundredths of a second, Wightman views the silver as vindication for the bold decisions he took after missing the 2024 Olympics though injury - including sacking his dad as coach.

"In true Japanese style we went to a karaoke bar to celebrate," the Scotsman told BBC Sport.

"We raced really late and then had anti-doping, so I don't think we started the night until quite late... so finished quite late.

"I've been to karaoke bars in the UK, and this was like that on steroids. It was not just microphones. It was a full band set. There were drums, guitars, bass and piano.

"There were about 12 of us butchering songs. It wasn't solos - more a group sing song. The first one was 'Gold' by Spandau Ballet, which I thought wasn't really appropriate because I got silver, but it was nice gesture.

"I wanted to Erasure's 'A little respect'. They didn't have that, but there was a lot of Oasis, some Billy Joel... we had it all to ourselves and went on until the early hours."

Wightman, who won the world title in 2022, missed last year's Olympics with a hamstring injury which followed foot and calf problems preventing him competing in the 2023 World Championships and UK Championships respectively.

The Paris disappointment was the final straw for Wightman, and led him to change his personal and training life as a "last roll of the dice".

"I got within a week of the Olympics, and thought was this literally my body telling me I've given everything I possibly could," he added.

"So I relocated myself and my fiancee from London to Manchester, which felt like a big deal - my whole life and our friend group was down there.

"And then in February, I decided to part ways with my dad as my coach, which was an even bigger deal, because he's been my coach since I was 15.

"They are decisions I hoped I wouldn't regret, and luckily for me, they paid off. This is the outcome I hoped for, making those hard choices.

"Even although he isn't my coach anymore, he doesn't lose his role as my father.

"He was proud of me on Wednesday and sent me a message and some advice on how he thought the race would go. It's funny how he has gone from the figurehead in all my career and all of a sudden he isn't involved. It is a big change."

Wightman revealed his fiancee had bought him a charm from a cat shrine to bring him good luck - but it was returned when they realised it could have the opposite effect.

"My fiancee brought me back a tiny little 'good luck cat' thing," he added.

"But then it turned out they also picked up a bigger cat, which if you don't return it to the shrine you're destined for bad luck.

"So on Wednesday morning, it got taken back! So it's worked, and hopefully means I'm due some uninjured years in the future. Nader's girlfriend must have brought two lucky cats for him!"

Wightman was one of three Scots in the 1500m final, with Neil Gourley finishing 10th while defending champion Josh Kerr hobbled over the line in last after suffering a calf pronlem.

Wightman lamented Kerr's injury denying Scotland having "two of us on that podium, because it would have been a very likely outcome".

And when he was asked if any injuries could be attributed to the 20-minute bus journey between the athletes' initial warm-up and the stadium where the track is, he said: "They could. You can stretch your legs out in the bus, but it's not ideal.

"We got used to it, but hopefully we won't have to do it again, because it is much nicer having a warm up track where you can just walk into the stadium."