Matthew Hudson-Smith (born 26 October 1994) is a British track and fieldsprinter who specialises in the 400 metres and is the 5th fastest athlete of all-time over the distance.[2] As of September 2024 he is ranked as the number one 400m runner in the world[3] and has won six British titles (five in the 400m and one in the 200m), five Diamond League events, two individual European titles, an individual Olympic silver medal, World Championships silver and bronze individual medals and an individual Commonwealth silver medal.[4] He has also won a number of relay titles including an Olympic bronze medal, World Championships bronze medal, two European gold medals, one European silver medal, one European bronze medal and a Commonwealth Games gold medal.[5] Hudson-Smith also holds the European and British 4x400m records (2:55.83) along with the GB Team who ran in the final of the men's 4x400m event in the Paris 2024 Olympics.
He holds, as of September 2024 the British and European record, running a personal best of 43.44 seconds for the distance at the 2024 Summer Olympics. He currently holds the top 5 fastest times ever run by a European Athlete in the 400m and is widely considered to be the greatest British and European 400m runner in history.[6]
As of 2022, Hudson-Smith is the most decorated British male athlete in European Championships history, with seven medals, second overall only to French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre.
Career
Born in Wolverhampton,[7] he joined a nearby athletics club, Birchfield Harriers, in 2006. He competed in a variety of events before focusing more on the sprints from 2008 onwards. In 2010 and 2011 he mainly concentrated as a 200 metres runner. He was runner-up at the English Schools Championships over that distance in both 2011 and 2012 before finally winning the title in 2013 at the age of eighteen, after returning from a series of hamstring injuries and illness.[8] During 2012 to 2013 he studied on the AASE Apprenticeship at Loughborough College and is now a Physical Education and Sports Coaching student at the University of Worcester, allowing him to continue his education at the same time as training and competing.
In the 2014 season, he returned to competing in the 400m, working under his coach Tony Hadley. Coming from a personal best of 48.76 seconds at the start of the year, his new focus on the event greatly improved his times. He ran of 46.29 seconds at the Tom Jones Memorial Invitational in Florida in April, then set a best of 45.80 seconds in Belgium in May.[8] He ran a quick race at the British Athletics Championships, but was disqualified for a lane infringement.[10]
His following race at the Glasgow Grand Prix marked a career breakthrough as he finished in the top three at the Diamond League race in a time of 44.97 seconds. This made him only the second British teenager to dip under 45 seconds for the distance and placed him second on the European rankings for the season.[11] Hudson-Smith surprised himself with the level of improvement, saying "I've no idea where that came from, no idea at all".[12] He was chosen to represent England at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in the 4×400m relay alongside Conrad Williams, Michael Bingham, and Daniel Awde. On his return to Glasgow for the Commonwealth Games he ran the fastest split on the final leg to overhaul Trinidad and Tobago's Zwede Hewitt and hold off Olympic champion Chris Brown, winning the gold medal for the team.[13]
At the 2014 European Athletics Championships in Zürich, Switzerland, Hudson-Smith won the silver medal in the individual 400m in a time of 44.75 seconds, behind compatriot Martyn Rooney. This is despite receiving a yellow card (warning) from the officials for not being stable in the set position.[14]
In 2016, Hudson-Smith was selected for the Rio Olympics in the 400m and the 4x400m, he qualified for the final with a pb of 44.48,[15] and finished 8th in the final with a time of 44.61. He ran in the heats of the 4x400m relay, but his team were disqualified as Hudson-Smith was judged to have been outside the takeover zone when he started running to receive the baton from Delano Williams.
At the 2017 World Championships, Hudson-Smith made it to the semi-finals of the 400m, however, did not qualify to the final as he finished fourth in his semi-final.[16] He won bronze as part of the men's 4x400m relay, with his teammates Dwayne Cowan, Rabah Yousif and Martyn Rooney[17]
Prior to the 2018 season he moved to Florida and started working with Coach Lance Brauman and the PureAthletics camp which also featured the likes of Noah Lyles and Shaunae Miller-Uibo. He won gold at the 2018 European Championships in the men's 400m, winning the final with a time of 44.78, also winning silver in the men's 4x400m relay.[18]
Hudson-Smith was not able to compete at the delayed Tokyo 2020 Olympics. However, in the 2022 season Hudson-Smith switched coaching groups to partner with Gary Evans and returned to his best form breaking the British national record at the Prefontaine Classic in Eugene clocking 44.35seconds and being signed by Puma. He went on to win bronze at the 2022 World Championships later in the year, his first individual medal at the World Championships and becoming only the second British 400m runner to medal in the men's event.[19] He won gold at the 2022 European Championships in both the men's 400m and men's 4x400m relay.[20] and a silver medal in the Birmingham Commonwealth Games which took place on the track Hudson-Smith had trained on in his youth at Alexander Stadium. Also in 2022, he won the 400m at the British Athletics Championships by 1.26seconds which was the largest winning margin in the men's400metres at those championships for over thirty years.
In 2023, he won the silver medal in the men's 400m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships, again breaking the European record in the semi-finals with a time of 44.26.[21]
Hudson-Smith lowered his European 400m record again at the Diamond League meeting in London on 20 July 2024, winning the race in a time of 43.74, improving Steven Gardiner's seven‑year‑old track record by 0.15seconds with the fastest 400m time ever seen on British soil.[24][25]
At the 2024 Paris Olympics, Hudson-Smith won the silver medal in the 400m event with a time of 43.44 seconds, finishing behind gold medalist Quincy Hall, who won the race in 43.40 seconds. Hall came from behind in the final 15 meters to overtake Hudson-Smith, who had been leading most of the way.[26] Hudson-Smith's sprint is the sixth-fastest all-time, making him the fifth-fastest person in the 400m event in history, across all competitions. This marked the first time that an athlete was not able to secure the gold medal with a time under 43.75 seconds in the Olympics.[27] Although fatigued following his success in the individual event, Hudson-Smith led his team through the 4x400m heats to a place in the final and to a bronze medal, producing a split of 43.09 in the final which as of September 2024 is the fourth fastest 4x400m relay split in history.
Following the Paris Olympics, Hudson-Smith stated his desire to win a global individual gold medal and to continue for another four years until the Los Angeles 2028 Summer Olympics.[28]
Personal bests
400 metres – 43.44 sec (2024) – joint sixth fastest time in history.[27] The only men to run faster were all world record holders and/or Olympic champions, although Butch Reynolds was not Olympic 400m champion, his gold was in the relays.
This was the first time a European had broken 44seconds for 400metres.
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