Wightman and his coach had theorised that the Diamond League season with its ubiquitous pacemakers had given Ingebrigtsen a false sense of invulnerability that would tell if he chose to front run.

In discovering a template to defeat the Olympic prodigy, the question was had Wightman found the weakness in Ingebrigtsen, or simply given the Norwegian a lesson he would use to reassert his primacy.

The reigning champion was ruled out by injury, and Ingebrigtsen sought to neutralise the kick of anyone considering repeating the tactic of the Scot, taking to the front early and winding up the pace.

But in a remarkable turn of events, Josh Kerr from Great Britain, Scotland and Edinburgh Athletics Club - who had been a friend and club team mate of Wightman since his early teens - displayed staggering self-confidence as he ignored the perils of following the hard pace, moved to the Olympic champion's shoulder, and executed once more the Wightman solution, surging past the favorite in the last 200 metres.

Ingebrigtsen, the anticipated frontrunner, settled for the silver medal for a second successive year behind a Great Britain jersey, while his fellow countryman Narve Gilje Nordås claimed the bronze.