In the Paris Olympic 400m final, Matt Hudson-Smith battled for the line, finishing 0.04 seconds behind Quincy Hall. His 43.44 was the sixth fastest 400m time ever, but only worth an Olympic silver. So near and yet so far. It should be noted that 4 of the 5 men who ran faster were Olympic champions (Wayde van Niekerk, Michael Johnson, Butch Reynolds, and Hall).
He said at the time:” It was crazy. Sometimes the journey is better than the result, and it’s been a hell of a journey. I’m just grateful. I’ve got an Olympic silver medal, and how many people can say that? I’ve been the bridesmaid a couple of times now, but my time is coming. I’m just happy and grateful.”
“I ran it exactly the way my coach told me to. We knew it was going to come down to the last 50, and I thought I had it, but Quincy had an extra gear. I hit the gear a little bit too late. As we came up, he had one step on me, and that was it. I thought I’d cleared the field. I knew someone was going to come; I wasn’t trying to ease up. I was running to the line. He got me on the line, it happens”.
I have been privileged to be in the stadium for all his great career races: the World Championship silver in Budapest and bronze in Eugene; two European golds and a silver; Commonwealth silver; and Olympic, World, European, and Commonwealth relay medals.
Reflecting on his early career in a chat with GB track and field writers this month, he recalled reaching the final of the 2016 Olympics and coming last, and going out in the semi-final, ninth-fastest, with 8 qualifying for the final at the 2017 Worlds. “In 2016, when I went to the Olympics, and I made the final, and I was looking around, and I was like, ‘What have I got to do to compete against these boys? ’. Everyone was based in America and I was like ‘OK I’ve stayed here [the Midlands of England] since I was 10 years old but I need to change and I need to like grow as a person I need to train with these boys because I need to see what they’re about’. So that was like the whole decision behind it, and if I’m honest with you, I never really wanted to leave England”.
He also talked about his disappointment with finishing sixth in the semi-final at last year’s World Championships in Tokyo, with a time of 44.95, revealing for the first time his backstory. “The world was around the birth of my daughter, Eden. So I had a lot going on. My wife didn’t have the easiest of births, and so I was running back and forth, I missed GB trials because of it – getting a medical exemption – and then I was sleeping on a hospital bed so that was not really the most comfortable experience and then going from that whole stressful environment literally three days later having to jump on the plane and picking up niggles and whilst there and I’m missing like a good month of Eden’s life. At the start, it was really stressful, and then yeah, that was pretty much a bit of a whirlwind, really, during that time”.
He was pleased with his second-place 44.25 season opener at Rabat, particularly after an injury and “a terrible winter because of the fact that you’re juggling now with a small human. So the lack of sleep and constant tiredness. It’s a different type of tiredness than when you when you’re younger and you just sleep for hours but like you have a terrible session you come home you want to sleep and you have this little person wanting you have to do f dad duty so that was like a new thing to juggle but we got the hang of it now and maybe dad strength might be a real thing”.
The big event for Matt this summer is the European Championships in Birmingham (Peaky Blinders, not Alabama), 10-16 August. And Matt will be keen to show the people he grew up among what he has learned in the past 9 years living in the USA.
