Matt Hudson-Smith clinches bronze in 400m at World Championships

He clocked 44.66 seconds

Matt Hudson-Smith’s gutsy run saw him win bronze in the 400m at the World Championships.

The European champion clocked 44.66 seconds to finish behind the USA’s Michael Norman and Kirani James of Grenada, who took silver in Eugene.

Hudson-Smith held off the challenge of the USA’s Champion Allison in the final 50m to cling on to a podium place.

It is Great Britain’s fourth medal in America after Laura Muir won 1500m bronze, Dina Asher-Smith clinched 200m bronze and Jake Wightman’s stunning 1500m gold.

“That was mad,” he said. “I knew that everyone who was going to medal was on the inside (of him) and I just went (for it). The game plan went out of the window, I just ran. It felt like a weight was on my back (in the last 100m).

“I then felt Wayde and Champion on my outside and I was like ‘hang on for dear life’. I knew I was close enough to Kirani where I thought I could get him but at the same time I knew there was another person on the outside of me so I was ‘please hang on’ and I got a medal.”

On his journey to the championships, he added: “I don’t think people really know the half of it. It has been a whirlwind these past three years – Achilles tendon tears, hamstring tears, a lot of mental health issues – it has been mad.

“I don’t even think I have scratched the surface. This is just the beginning. I got the monkey off my back, which was the British record, and I’ve got another monkey off my back, which is getting a world medal and it is now just push on from here and keep going.”

Hudson-Smith revealed before the championships he was ready to quit athletics in 2014 and had applied for the Army while he was working in Asda.

The 27-year-old, from Wolverhampton, had broken Iwan Thomas’ 25-year-old British record at Hayward Field in May when he ran 44.35 seconds.

On the same track on Friday in Oregon he could not beat his time with Norman running 44.29 seconds to win and James 44.48 seconds.

Published: 23/07/2022 by Radio NewsHub