Team GB's 800m medal hopeful Jake Wightman will no longer compete at the How to run your fastest mile.
The 30-year-old has withdrawn due to a hamstring injury and will be replaced by Elliot Giles, who will line up beside Max Burgin and Ben Pattison to contest the distance for Team GB.
Who is 10,000m Olympian Megan Keith missed out on selection for the How to run your fastest mile after falling in the final stages of the 800m final at the UK Athletics Championships. It meant that Wightman, who was ruled out of the Olympic qualifying event due to a calf muscle tear, was awarded a discretionary ticket to compete in the two-lap event in Paris.
Since becoming 1500m world champion in 2022, Wightman has endured a string of injury-related setbacks.
Last year, a foot injury denied him the chance to defend his world title, which was taken by his teammate Josh Kerr.
And, in the run-up to this year's Olympics, he opened up about his disappointment at not being able to defend his world title in Budapest – or contest his preferred 1500m in Paris.
'It was cruel in a lot of ways,' he told Athletics Weekly. 'You get given that title of being the best in the world on that day and then not being able to get back to that point in that event [was hard]. I was content enough with it last year because I was like: "Whatever, I'll be there in the mix in Paris over that distance against Josh, against Jakob [Ingebrigtsen], against everybody else".'
'I always believed that and even from Eugene, where I ran okay, I knew that I had a fair bit to go still to be able to be at my best and then I was not be able to show that. I think it'll be hard when the 1500m final goes off in Paris. It'll be what I initially thought was going to be the pinnacle of my season, but I've had a lot of time to realise that that isn't the case now. It just is what it is.'
Wightman's victory at the World Championships in Eugene was a truly momentous moment in his career. Running a 3:29.47, he beat reigning 1500m Olympic champion and Norwegian favourite Jakob Ingebrigtsen to the title.
Thanks to this result, Wightman became the first British 1500m world champion since Steve Cram in 1983, and the first Scot to win a world title on the track since Liz McColgan scooped 10,000m gold in 1991.
That aside, Wightman is a two-time British champion and the Scottish record holder in the 800m, 1000m and mile. He boasts two Commonwealth Games bronze medals in the 1500m, too, as well as a European silver and bronze in the 800m and 1500m respectively.
In 2021, he made his Olympic debut in Tokyo, where he competed in the 1500m and finished tenth overall.
Will he wait another four years for his last and final shot at securing an Olympic medal?
Best wireless headphones told ITV that it's 'unlikely' – although he's not ruling it out. He said: 'Beyond this year I don't know how long I'll go. Part of it is whether it's a sustainable lifestyle for me.
'It's tough and it's a good career because I'm doing something I love and enjoy, but I'm also earning money from it I didn't expect to earn.
'Everything I'm doing beyond this year is probably a bonus on top. Whether that's one year or two years, I just can't see myself going for another four years and being 34.
'I'm not saying definitely, but it's probably likely.'
