Charlie Dobson targets another season to remember
As he prepares to start his 2025 campaign in Rome, the Brit looks back on the season that made him stand out
Charlie Dobson is hoping the new season picks up right where the last one left off. The 25-year-old is set to open his 2025 campaign at the Rome Diamond League on June 6, following a breakout year that firmly established him as one of Britain's fastest 400m athletes.
His 2024 season was nothing short of transformative. Dobson began with a silver medal in the 400m at the European Championships, and closed the year by winning the Diamond League final in Brussels — a race he hadn’t even expected to qualify for just days before. That unexpected victory capped a season full of milestones, which included a new personal best of 44.23 in the 400m, making him the second-fastest Brit of all time behind Matthew Hudson-Smith.
As Dobson said: “I think the 400m is an event that finds you rather than the other way around.” It’s a distance that wasn’t originally part of his plan. Known previously for the 200m — including a fourth-place finish at the 2022 European Championships — Dobson made the move up after injuries from high-intensity sprint training became too frequent.
In addition to his Diamond League win and individual personal best, the PUMA athlete also helped Team GB claim bronze in the men’s 4x400m relay at the Paris Olympic Games. The team’s time of 2:55.83 not only secured a podium finish but also broke a European record that had stood since 1996.
But the road to this point hasn’t been smooth. A string of injuries over several years, including a serious stress fracture in 2021 during a warm-up at the World Athletics Relays, forced him to miss an entire season and presented the biggest challenge of his career so far.
Now fully fit and focused, Dobson has already helped secure Britain’s spot in the men’s 4x400m relay at the upcoming World Championships after their performance at the World Relays in May. The next goal? To qualify individually and make the 400m final in Tokyo — and once there, he knows anything is possible.
We caught up with Dobson ahead of his season opener to learn more about his passions on and off the track — from engineering and golf to his ambitions for the year ahead.
What is your biggest achievement?
My biggest achievement so far has to be 2024 as a whole. I started off with the European Championships, winning a silver medal there, and then moving on to represent Team GB in the Olympics. We came home with a bronze medal in the relay and in the process of that we set a European/British record that stood for 20 odd years. We finished off the year winning the Diamond League final in Brussels.
If I had to pinpoint one thing it would probably be the Diamond League final, it's a pretty remarkable achievement. Three or four days before the final, we didn't even know that we were going to be in the race and then we suddenly had to book some train tickets to Brussels.
The league structure of the Diamond League means you have to earn a certain number of points to finish in the top eight. After the last event I was tenth ranked and I had to wait for two people to drop out which was a little bit tense. So we ended up finding out on the Monday, travelled out on the Wednesday and the race was Friday.
What is the biggest challenge you have had to overcome?
So far as an athlete, it has definitely been injuries. It certainly hasn't been an easy ride to get to where I am now. The last three to four years I've really struggled with minor injuries, such as simple hamstring injuries coming at the wrong time up to large things like stress fractures. I think dealing with a stress fracture was the biggest one I have had to overcome because I had to take an entire year out.
What is the best thing about being a professional athlete?
The best thing is being able to do what I love everyday. The saying - you never work a day in your life if you are doing what you love - that’s what I'm doing right now.
What are your goals for the rest of the year?
The main ambition for this year is to definitely make the final at the World Championships in Tokyo and once you're in the final anything can happen, so I’ll be going for a medal.
I also want to start off the season getting more and more race experience. That’s a massive thing for me is learning the event [400m] and learning how to run races differently as well as overcoming different setbacks within races.
When you are standing on the start line, what is going through your mind?
When I'm walking out to the blocks, getting set up and waiting for the starter to set everyone off there is actually not going much through my head. At that point I've done all the mental preparation during the warm up and in the call room. At that point I’m purely focused on the first couple of steps and from then it's taking every step at a time.
Every step is broken into segments, and I approach each segment as it comes. The segments are every 50m or so, and I’m thinking at what point should I be pushing and at what point should I be maintaining rather than trying to accelerate.
How did the transition from 200m to 400m happen?
Growing up, I don't think I ever wanted to be a 400m sprinter. I think the 400m is an event that finds you rather than the other way around. I was always a 200m sprinter and I did a few 100s at the same time.
The 200m to 400m transition came around because we gave the 200m a decent go, I ran well and came fourth at the European Championships. But it just wasn't sustainable. I was getting injured doing the type of training required for a 200m and my body just couldn't withstand it. So we made a decision in 2023 to move up to the 400m training.
It’s harder training for the 400m but it’s slightly less explosive and slightly less intense so it allowed me to have a full winter season of training and eventually an entire full season of competing.
Who did you look up to growing up?
My biggest inspiration growing up was probably Greg Rutherford. I know he’s a long jumper but he’s ginger and I am also ginger if you can’t tell!
What interests do you have other than running?
Whilst I was at university I studied Aeronautical Engineering which is a little bit different to the average subject studied by an athlete. I chose it because my grandad was an engineer so growing up I always had an interest in that kind of field. He always used to take me to Duxford Airfield to watch the air shows and that spawned my love for Aeronautical Engineering because I wanted to learn more about how planes worked.
When I get away from the track I also like to go and play a few rounds of golf, it gives my mind a break from thinking about athletics all the time and it’s a nice place to go and hit some balls.
I picked up golf during the pandemic in 2020, me and uni mates would go down ground and play a few rounds there. I normally try to play at least every other week to keep improving. My best score to date is 81 on a par 72 golf course so that’s 9 over par.
Do you find any similarities between playing golf and athletics?
I love it so much because it's a completely different atmosphere to athletics where everything is fast paced and there is so much going on at the same time. When you’re on the golf course it is quite relaxed unless you hit in the water or something then it’s quite stressful so I try not to do that.
What shoes will you be training and competing in this year?
For normal training days I will train in the PUMA Deviate NITRO 3s and for speed sessions or racing, I will use the PUMA evoSpeed Forte NITRO Elites. I think they are an incredible blend of comfort and the carbon plate in them is really quite stiff which is nice and it helps for the longer reps like the 400m.
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