Susan Wightman
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British |
| Born | 24 October 1960 Woolhope, England |
| Height | 165 cm (5 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 49 kg (108 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event | long distance |
| Club | Cardiff AAC |
Susan Julia Wightman (née Tooby; born 24 October 1960)[1] is an English born long-distance runner who represented Great Britain and Wales. She set her personal best of 2:31:33 in the marathon, when finishing 12th at the 1988 Seoul Olympics.[2]
Biography
[edit]Born in Woolhope, Herefordshire, England, Tooby is the twin sister of 1988 World Cross Country silver medallist Angela Tooby.
Tooby finished third behind Debbie Peel in the 3,000 metres event at the 1983 WAAA Championships.[3][4][5]
Tooby finished sixth in the 10,000 metres event at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, where in the same race her sister Angela won a bronze medal.
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.
In 1991, she married distance runner and marathoner Geoff Wightman, now a long-time media commentator on athletics. Susan competed under her married name of Wightman thereafter.[6][7][8] They have three children, twin sons Jake[9] (the winner of the 1500 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships[10]) and Sam, and a daughter, Martha.
International competitions
[edit]| 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
[edit]- ^ "Olympedia – Susan Tooby". www.olympedia.org. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
- ^ "Profile". sports-reference.
- ^ "Athletics". Sunday Express. 31 July 1983. Retrieved 16 March 2025 – via British Newspaper Archive.
- ^ "AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists". National Union of Track Statisticians. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "AAA Championships (women)". GBR Athletics. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "Marriages". Free BMD. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "Marriages". Free BMD. Retrieved 16 March 2025.
- ^ "Jake Wightman: World champion and his dad Geoff on 1500m Oregon victory". BBC Sport. 20 July 2022. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
- ^ 2016 EAC bios
- ^ Ingle, Sean (20 July 2022). "Jake Wightman stuns 1500m field to claim world title as dad commentates". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 July 2022.
External links
[edit]
- 1960 births
- Living people
- Sportspeople from Herefordshire
- Welsh female marathon runners
- British female marathon runners
- Welsh female long-distance runners
- British female long-distance runners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales
- Olympic athletes for Great Britain
- Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics
- English twins
- Competitors at the 1984 Friendship Games