'Banging your chest': Champ whacked after 'blindfold' sledge

British world champion Jake Wightman has hit back at Norwegian superstar Jakob Ingebrigtsen following his latest sledge, saying "it's funny", telling him to deliver on his word and warning him against "banging your chest too much".

Tension has been high between Ingebrigtsen and two world champion Scots, Wightman and Josh Kerr, who beat the brash Norwegian to 1500m gold at the 2022 and 2023 world titles respectively, pulling off underdog victories.

After Kerr set a new indoor two-mile world record at the Millrose Games in New York City this month, Ingebrigtsen couldn't resist getting lippy.

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"I would have beaten him in that race blindfolded," Ingebrigtsen told Norwegian media company TV2.

"But it's good that people run better than they have done before."

Wightman fired back at Ingebrigtsen following Thursday night's NSW Milers race in Sydney, in which he was beaten over 1500m by Canberra teen prodigy Cameron Myers and Perth's Jesse Hunt.

"I don't like sometimes getting dragged into it with a few disrespectful comments because I feel like I've shown a lot of respect," Wightman told Wide World of Sports trackside.

"It probably means that we're doing something right if someone feels the need to say that about us. Josh is more likely to bite back, whereas I'd rather just let my running do the talking. I know myself and even Jakob, with the problems he's had, you need to probably be a little bit quieter and just get back to where you need to be before you can start banging your chest too much."

A beaming smile appeared on Wightman's face when he was asked specifically about Ingebrigtsen's "blindfold" sledge.

"It's funny, is what I would say, the fact he says stuff like that. Go and do it then, is what I would say. You've got to take your hat off to someone that goes out and runs a world record, and until you go and do it yourself you probably can't say anything," Wightman said.

"I've got no doubt that Jakob could give it a very good go and potentially get it [the indoor two-mile world record], but you'd probably have to let that be the final say, rather than words."

Wightman and Ingebrigtsen are polar opposites.

"It's probably the character that Jakob is that makes him so good; he has that much self-belief and self-confidence that he's not probably saying it to get in his head, he's probably saying it because he genuinely does believe it," Wightman said.

"If that's the way you need to talk yourself up, then fair enough. Myself, I don't need to do that; I just have a bit of self-belief and I try to keep that to myself."

After Wightman defeated Ingebrigtsen at the 2022 world championships in Eugene, the Olympic champion said he had lost to a lesser athlete. Wightman said it "wasn't the nicest thing to say", but claimed he "couldn't care less".

Kerr took aim at Ingebrigtsen on the Sunday Plodcast late last year, saying "the ego is pretty high on this one" and he has "real major weaknesses".

He doubled down in January.

"Myself and Jake Wightman have shown where those flaws are," Kerr told The Guardian.

"And I think he has some flaws in the manners realm, as well."

Wightman reckons the colourful comments are "great for the sport".

"People watch boxing because of the pre-game talk and the slander ... and if it can set up a good final for Paris because there's been a lot of trash talk, then even better," he said.

"People watch it because of that."

The men's 1500m final shapes as one of the top events of the Paris Olympics.

Ingebrigtsen, Wightman, Kerr, American Yared Nuguse and Kenyan Timothy Cheruiyot are expected to be among the finalists.

Among the runners scrapping for three spots on the Australian Olympic team are Myers, Oliver Hoare, Stewart McSweyn, Jye Edwards, Adam Spencer and Matthew Ramsden.