Susan Julia Wightman (née Tooby; born 24 October 1960)[1] is a retired long-distance runner from Great Britain. Representing Wales, she finished sixth in the 10,000 metres at the 1986 Commonwealth Games. She set her personal best of 2:31:33 in the marathon, when finishing 12th at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. At the 1988 Great North Run, she became the first British woman to run a sub-70-minute half-marathon, running 69:46 to finish second behind Greta Waitz. This would stand as the UK record until 1991 when Liz McColgan ran 69:15.

Personal life

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Born in Woolhope, Herefordshire, England, Wightman is the twin sister of 1988 World Cross Country silver medallist Angela Tooby. She is married to former distance runner and marathoner Geoff Wightman, now a long-time media commentator on athletics.[2] They have three children, twin sons Jake[3] (the winner of the 1500 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships[4]) and Sam, and a daughter, Martha.

International competitions

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing   Great Britain /   Wales
1985 World Cross Country Championships Lisbon, Portugal 29th 5 km 16:04
1986 World Cross Country Championships Neuchatel, Switzerland 77th 4.7 km 16:08
Commonwealth Games Edinburgh, United Kingdom 6th 10,000m 32:56.78
1987 World Cross Country Championships Warsaw, Poland 45th 5.1 km 17:54
1988 World Cross Country Championships Auckland, New Zealand 16th 6.0 km 19:56
Olympic Games Seoul, South Korea 12th Marathon 2:31:33
1990 European Championships Split, SFR Yugoslavia 20th Marathon 2:55:22

References

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  1. ^ "Olympedia – Susan Tooby". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  2. ^ "Jake Wightman: World champion and his dad Geoff on 1500m Oregon victory". BBC Sport. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
  3. ^ 2016 EAC bios
  4. ^ Ingle, Sean (20 July 2022). "Jake Wightman stuns 1500m field to claim world title as dad commentates". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
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