Susan Wightman

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Susan Wightman
née Tooby

| image =

| caption =

| nationality = British

| sport = Athletics

| event = long distance

| club = Cardiff AAC

| birth_date = 24 October 1960

| birth_place = Woolhope, England

| death_date =

| death_place =

| height =165 cm

| weight =49 kg

| pb =

| medaltemplates=

}}

Susan Julia Wightman (née Tooby; born 24 October 1960){{Cite web |title=Olympedia – Susan Tooby |url=https://www.olympedia.org/athletes/68800 |access-date=2024-04-27 |website=www.olympedia.org}} 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.{{cite web|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200418040915/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/to/susan-tooby-1.html |website=sports-reference |title=Profile}}

Biography

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.{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0004941/19830731/479/0027 |title=Athletics |work=Sunday Express |date=31 July 1983 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=16 March 2025}}{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=16 March 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/waaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (women) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=16 March 2025 }}

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.{{cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=289961798:6219&d=bmd_1740370513 |title=Marriages |website=Free BMD |access-date=16 March 2025 }}{{cite web|url=https://www.freebmd.org.uk/cgi/information.pl?r=267462633:6819&d=bmd_1740370513 |title=Marriages |website=Free BMD |access-date=16 March 2025 }}{{cite news |title=Jake Wightman: World champion and his dad Geoff on 1500m Oregon victory |url=https://www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/62233812 |access-date=20 July 2022 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=20 July 2022}} They have three children, twin sons Jake[http://www.european-athletics.org/mm/Document/EventsMeetings/General/01/27/94/25/5Jul16Men_Neutral.pdf 2016 EAC bios] (the winner of the 1500 metres at the 2022 World Athletics Championships{{cite news |last1=Ingle |first1=Sean |title=Jake Wightman stuns 1500m field to claim world title as dad commentates |url=https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2022/jul/20/jake-wightman-stuns-1500m-field-to-claim-world-title-as-dad-commentates |access-date=20 July 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=20 July 2022}}) and Sam, and a daughter, Martha.

International competitions

{{AchievementTable\|Event=yes}}
colspan="6"\|Representing {{GBR2}} / {{WAL}}
1985 \|World Cross Country Championships \|Lisbon, Portugal \|29th \|5 km \|16:04
rowspan=2\|1986 \|World Cross Country Championships \|Neuchâtel, 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
rowspan=2\|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

colspan="6"|Representing {{GBR2}} / {{WAL}}

1985

|World Cross Country Championships

|Lisbon, Portugal

|29th

|5 km

|16:04

rowspan=2|1986

|World Cross Country Championships

|Neuchâtel, Switzerland

|77th

|4.7 km