A world record-holder, a youngster with the potential to be "the best of all time" and an expert championship racer all providing the ingredients for a Commonwealth occasion to remember.

Jake Wightman isn’t about to claim that the final of the men’s mile on Saturday evening (August 1) will have the power to save the Commonwealth Games. It does, however, present a very real opportunity for the athletics at Glasgow 2026 to finish on an incredibly high note. 

The idea to bring back the fabled distance to the Games for the first time since Jamaica in 1966 has been a fine one indeed. It has allowed history to be tapped into – echoes of Bannister v Landy in 1954 and all that – the imagination to be captured and, as Wightman points out, all of the key players have turned up to contest it. 

It helps, of course, that the world record has just been broken. It also helps that the man who broke it will be competing at Scotstoun. Of even greater benefit is the fact that he’s Scottish. The appearance of Josh Kerr was one of the reasons why Wednesday morning’s qualifying heats enjoyed a healthy audience. His Scotland team-mate Wightman was another. 

Both have been 1500m world champions – Wightman in 2022 and Kerr his successor 12 months later – and the dream scenario for the home crowd would be the sight of those two going toe to toe for gold down the last 200m at a venue which helped them hone their craft in their early years in the sport. 

But, if there’s one thing that’s certain about middle-distance running, it’s uncertainty, plus there’s an extraordinarily talented young Australian in the shape of Cameron Myers who could very easily poop this Commonwealth party. 

He might be tender in years, but the 20-year-old is already building an impressive CV. On July 4, he underlined his talent at the Prefontaine Classic, winning the Bowerman Mile in an Oceania record-breaking 3:46.06. That run came one week after winning the Paris Diamond League in 3:28.00. Victory in Glasgow, and a first major senior title, would represent a significant staging post.

“I got beaten by him in 2024 in Australia and, when I saw that, I was like: ‘Man, he’s going to be good’,” said Wightman of his young foe. “And he’s just kept getting better every year. He’s the future of the sport. You’re potentially racing against [someone] who’s going to be the best of all time – that’s the way I look at him.”

It will be a field of the highest quality that will also feature Kenya’s former world champion Timothy Cheruiyot, arguably one of the biggest reasons behind the marked change in the way the 1500m has been run in recent years. Welshman Jake Heyward, who only began running again in January after being away from the sport for the best part of two years due to double Achilles surgery, has also been quietly doing remarkable things. 

But, as he demonstrated to the world by running 3:42.66 in London, Kerr is in the shape of his life and certainly not about to be daunted by the task at hand.

“I want as much pressure on me as possible,” he says. “I’m here to show up and get a gold medal for Scotland, and hopefully we can put more people on the podium than just me.”

However, he does admit: “It is very different to go from racing a clock to racing these guys and these guys are really good. I think it’ll be a great battle out there.”

Wightman is one such “really good” guy. At 32 he is fully aware of being in the latter part of his career and, unless London wins the right to stage the 2029 World Championships, this Glasgow showdown, and the European Championships in Birmingham, will represent his last major championships on UK shores. 

After a series of injury problems that wrecked his chances of building immediately on that world title in 2022, he showed his credentials again at the world championships in Tokyo last year and missed another 1500m gold by the width of a vest from Portugal’s Isaac Nader. 

And he is in shape. He is the 800m British champion this summer and also clocked 2:12.77 for 1000m at the Monaco Diamond League on July 10 to put himself second on the all-time UK lists. 

Issues with his recovery from that performance meant he opted to withdraw from the London Diamond League as a safety measure, but he made sure to watch from afar as Kerr strutted his stuff at the Olympic Stadium. 

“Oh, it’s insane,” says the 2022 1500m Commonwealth bronze medallist. “When I saw his attempt I was like: ‘Oh it’s a nice little PR stunt, but I’m not sure how close he’ll get to it’, so to look that comfortable under it was impressive. The worst bit about watching it was like: ‘Christ. I’ve got to race him in a couple of weeks’ time’. 

“But it’s a championship, you want everyone running at their best and I know how hard it is to come off the back of a big high. The last time I was at the Commonwealths I’d won the world title nine or ten days before, so I struggled with that. I’ll be more impressed with how he handles this week off the back of it [the world record] because to get yourself going again after a massive, massive high is the real, real test of how mentally strong he is.

“I know that I couldn’t do what he did in that world record which is why I’m in awe of it just because it’s such a ridiculous feat of physical achievement. But I love the fact you come to a champs and it becomes both a physical and mental battle.”

A cagey, more tactical race of ebbs and flows would suit Wightman – an athlete whose strength is his finishing kick – down to the ground. Would he fancy his chances if he found himself on Kerr or Myers’ shoulder with 200m to go?

“I know my strengths and the one thing I’ll always try and do is run to win,” he says. “I feel like I’ve run well enough this year that I can give it a go. I’m hoping I’ve got everything I need but it’s just a crazy era.”

And what is it like to be right in the middle of that era, where so much attention is being placed on men’s middle distance running? 

“The best thing about [this race] is that [so many big names] will bring the whole world’s attention to it,” says Wightman. “I think the Commonwealths get stuck in our bubble of nations that are competing and you speak to Americans sometimes and they haven’t even heard of it; whereas I feel like there’s enough interest in the mile – especially after what Josh did and how well Cam’s going and maybe I’ve been a little bit of help to people watching. 

“But I think there’s going to be a big, big audience around the world tuning in for this, which would be cool for the legacy of the Commonwealths and for an event that seemed like it might not keep happening. 

“I think if we can put on a good show on Saturday it’s a real good thing for Commonwealth sport in the future. I am not blowing up the importance of our event but I do think that helps.”