Born in Nottingham, Wightman is the son of two former marathon runners, mother Susan Tooby having competed against McColgan for Wales.
However, prior to the World Championships, he admitted it was his affiliation to Scottish Athletics that allowed his talent to blossom.
“I wasn’t amazing when I was 13, 14, 15 and I would probably have got swallowed up if I was in England, whereas coming from Scotland I was able to have enough success to keep me hungry,” he told BBC Scotland.
So much so that, after attending athletics breeding ground Loughborough University, Wightman was crowned European junior champion at 1500m in 2013.
Despite that, bronze at the Commonwealth Games and European Championships in 2018 were his only top-class medals – until now.
Signs were good, however, when he claimed a first British title in Manchester to qualify for the World Championships after a Scottish 1-2-3 ahead of friend and rival Neil Gourley and Edinburgh AC team-mate Josh Kerr.
Wightman had finished a disappointing 10th in the Olympic final last year but was ranked second in the world heading to Eugene having won a Diamond League meeting in Rabat in June before breaking the 40-year-old Scottish outdoor mile record.
“I have shown over the years glimpses of my potential to do good stuff at global championships, but I’ve not quite done it yet,” Wightman had said.
With Gourley narrowly missing out on the final, it was down to two Scots to take on one of the strongest-ever 1500m fields, including Ingebrigtsen and defending champion Timothy Cheruiyot, the silver medallist from Tokyo.
A podium finish would have been a major achievement. Gold was almost beyond his wildest dreams. Yet the fantastical became reality as Wightman scorched to gold by holding off Norway’s Olympic champion in a magnificent tussle down the home straight.
It was an iconic moment in Scottish sport, made even more special by dad Geoff calling every glorious step into the record books.
“Dad can be a bit of a robot on the mic sometimes – some people say robot, some say professional,” Wightman said. “I hope he broke that down today. It will be interesting to watch it back. My mum was in tears, at least someone was crying.
“I’m 28 now – I don’t know how many more opportunities I will get to do this and I hope there is a lot more to come. I need to make the most of it. It’s important to hit the milestone like this, seven, eight-year-old me would never have believed.
“Whatever happens in the rest of my career, I’m a world champion.”
