In the summer of 2022 he won his first individual global medal, a bronze, in the 2022 World Championships, only the second British male after Roger Black to win a World Championships medal in the event. Weeks later, at his home track in Birmingham, United Kingdom he won the silver medal at the Commonwealth Games representing England, before retaining his European title at the 2022 European Championships event in Munich. By retaining his 400-metre European crown, he matched the achievements of countrymen Roger Black and Martyn Rooney. He is, as of 2022, the most decorated British athlete in European Championships history, with seven medals, second overall only to French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre.
Career
Born in Wolverhampton,[1] he joined his local 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.[2] 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.[2] He ran a quick race at the British Athletics Championships, but was disqualified for a lane infringement.[4]
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.[5] Hudson-Smith surprised himself with the level of improvement, saying "I've no idea where that came from, no idea at all".[6] 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.[7]
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.[8]
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 [9], 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, however, could not make it to the finals as he finished fourth in his semi-final. [10] he won bronze as part of the men's 4x400m relay, with his teammates Dwayne Cowan, Rabah Yousif and Martyn Rooney[11]
He won gold at the 2018 European Championships in the men's 400m, winning the final with a time of 44.78, he also won silver in the men's 4x400m relay. [12]
In 2023, he won the silver medal in the men's 400m at the 2023 World Athletics Championships breaking the European record in the semi-finals with a time of 44.26.[15]
Hudson-Smith opened his 2024 season with a 200m personal best of 20.39 in Florida, he was part of the British team for the 2024 World Athletics Relays, finishing sixth in the men's 4x400m final. He broke his own European record at the Bislett Games in Oslo clocking a time of 44.07. [16]
Andrzej Stanisław Badeński was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres. He won a bronze medal in that event at the 1964 Summer Olympics, and won the gold medal in that event at the European Indoor Championships in 1968 and in 1971.
The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, the first leg and the first bend of the second leg are run in lanes. Start lines are thus staggered over a greater distance than in an individual 400 metres race; the runners then typically move to the inside of the track. The slightly longer 4 × 440 yards relay, on an Imperial distance, was a formerly run British Commonwealth and American event, until metrication was completed in the 1970s.
Martyn Joseph Rooney is an English sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres event. He reached the 400 m final at the 2008 Summer Olympics and won bronze in the 4×400 metres relay. A mainstay on the anchor leg of the Great Britain and England 4 x 400 metre relay teams, at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics he won a silver medal with the Great Britain relay team, and bronze in the 2015 and 2017 World Championships.
Todd Anthony Bennett was a British athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metres.
Jan Werner was a Polish sprinter who specialized in the 200 and 400 metres.
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Fred Mango is a retired French sprinter who specialized in the 400 metres.
The men's 400 metres event at the 2016 Summer Olympics took place between 12 and 14 August at the Olympic Stadium. Fifty-three athletes from 35 nations competed. The event was won by 0.73 seconds by Wayde van Niekerk of South Africa, who broke the world record in the 400m and won the nation's second gold medal in the men's 400 metres. Kirani James of Grenada and LaShawn Merritt of the United States became the sixth and seventh men to win two medals in the event, but Michael Johnson remained the only man with two gold medals.
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Christopher O'Donnell is an Irish track and field athlete competing in sprinting events. He represented Ireland at the 2020 Summer Olympics in the Mixed 4 x 400m relay where he was part of the first ever Irish team to run in an Olympic final, and was also part of the team who reached the final of the 2022 and 2023 World Championships. He is the current Irish U20 record holder in the 400 metres, with a time of 46.54, set on 22 July 2017 at the European U20 Championships, where he finished 6th in the final. His personal best of 45.26 seconds sits joint-2nd on the Irish all-time list and he is the current and 5-time National 400m champion.
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Charlie Dobson is a British sprinter, who came second in the 200 metres event at the 2018 IAAF World U20 Championships. He was part of the British team that won the 4 × 400 m relay at the 2022 European Athletics Championships.
Alex Haydock-Wilson is a British track and field athlete. In 2023, he became British 400 metres champion.
Attila Molnár is a Hungarian track and field athlete. He set a new Hungarian national record over 400 metres at the 2023 World Athletics Championships in Budapest.
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