Matthew Hudson-Smith: "If you want to win gold, you’ve got to take it from me"

Matthew Hudson-Smith: "If you want to win gold, you’ve got to take it from me"

AW
Published: 03rd August, 2024
Updated: 20th March, 2025
BY Tim Adams
The European 400m record-holder is targeting the top of the Olympic podium and would be the first British male in a century to achieve the feat over one lap

It's not hard to work out what Matthew Hudson-Smith's ultimate goal is at the Paris Olympics.

The 29-year-old only has eyes on the gold medal. "If you want to win it, you’ve got to take it  from me," he says.

If he were to achieve such a feat, he'd be the first British male to stand on top of the Olympic 400m podium since Eric Liddell.

"The Flying Scotsman", who is famously depicted in the film Chariots of Fire, claimed his prestigious Olympic gold medal in Paris in 1924, the last time the Games were held in the French capital.

Given Hudson-Smith's current form, he has a strong chance of creating his own piece of history.

Eric Liddell (Getty)

At last month's London Diamond League, he smashed his own European record of 44.07 with a blistering 43.74. That time is still the world lead.

The double European 400m champion has claimed bronze and silver medals over one lap at the last two World Championships and feels the "best prepared he's ever been", adding that the sport is "10 per cent physical and 90 per cent mental".

At the 2022 World Championships in Oregon, Hudson-Smith revealed that, due to a combination of injuries and mental health issues, he had "previously attempted suicide" and that life in the years preceding the championships "had been an emotional rollercoaster".

His recovery has been helped by the support of people like coach Gary Evans and 2008 Olympic 400m champion Christine Ohuruogu.

Ahead of the Games, this is what Hudson-Smith had to say:

Matt Hudson-Smith (Getty)

A 'bromance' with Noah Lyles 

We’ve been training with each other for about four years. I obviously have a very close relationship with him and his brother [Josephus]. I was actually called the third Lyles brother at some point! I’ve seen all the hard work [Noah] has done and I’m proud of him. He’s just one of those guys that whatever he says will get headlines but he’s a good person. What you see with him is what you get.

He’s my boy and I’m proud of his successes, as he is with mine. His success doesn’t actually inspire me in the slightest as I inspire myself. He has his own mission, as do I. What he is doing is good but I want to emulate my own success.

I’ve just got to get through the rounds. The rest of the world are just as strong as me. It’s just one step at a time. I’m ready.

Health is the key to everything clicking 

There’s no secret, I’m just healthy. I ran 44.2 with one leg last year and then I tore my calf and ran 44.31. I think people thought I was lying when I said it. I’m also understanding the 400m a lot more now. When I was 18/19, I ran 44.7 with no experience so it’s not really a surprise [I’m running these faster times] if you think about it.

It’s been a long road but I think maturity, growth and being a better total overall athlete has allowed me to be the best version of myself. I took a lot of things for granted. It was more the case of inexperience and doing it just because I could. Then certain aspects of life kind of hit and it was a reality check.

You know, after 2021 when that reality check did hit, I had a lot of people basically saying to me 'it’s time to take it [the sport] seriously'. I remember the first conversation I had with my coach [Gary Evans] at Starbucks and he said to me ‘as long as you trust me and you put in the hard work, it’ll be fine’.

It was about seeing what happened, jumping into it with complete trust and then process, process, process.

Matthew Hudson-Smith (Getty)

A new gym regime

I watched a podcast with Michael Johnson and he was saying that you do things not because you like it but because you have to do it. There are no real excuses. I used to avoid the gym like the plague. Even in the past year, I didn’t really do gym between April and the outdoor championships. I did stuff for my Achilles but the gym was never at the forefront of my mind. It was just ticking a box.

I now do gym at 6am, right before training. It’s hard and not something I enjoy but the results are showing. If you hit the times when you’re fatigued and then race when you're fresh, it’ll be easier to hit the times. So I’m running under a lot of fatigue and I have to learn how to manoeuvre it. Why would you train fresh?

Whoever can hold their fatigue best wins. That’s not just the basis of my event but the nature of rounds. That’s why we do gym before [training] as we’re trying to get used to the fatigue, so when I am fresh I can do what I’m doing [fast times] right now.

The power of the mind 

I always say the sport is 10 per cent physical and 90 per cent mental. Once you get to this level and everyone is of a similar ability, you know anyone can get to 300m but it’s what you do mentally in the last 100m.

You have to prepare your mind to push through the hurt. Like I said, I was very naive early on. I never took diet, physio and gym seriously because in my head I was doing pretty well just on the track. I was always top 10 in the world. I wouldn’t say I was comfortable or happy but it was kind of being satisfied that I was doing okay in life compared to a lot of people.

Now, for instance, Christine doesn’t allow me to settle. She’s always in my ear and forcing me to be the best person for myself. It’s just the whole overall process of being an athlete and a better person. It’s understanding my role in the sport instead of doing just one singular thing. You know, being an athlete is just one aspect of it. You’ve got to do so many other things to develop yourself, even outside of it and learn different skills.

Matt Hudson-Smith (Getty)

A personal best by half a second

One of the annoying things about this year has been that I've actually gone into every race loaded. I’m just like ‘yo, when are we going to start easing off?’ We have a goal in mind and that’s not just the gold medal but a specific time. We’ve hit every single goal, including running sub-44, coming into the Olympics. We think that will probably be needed in the semi-finals.

The reason I missed the European Championships was because my coach said: ‘You’ve won it twice, what have you got to prove?’ So it’s about being ready for the Olympics. We have a singular focus and targets that we had to achieve to get to this point. I’m not really fussed as in this sport, you don’t want to be too high or low, just in the middle. If you’re in the middle, you do what you need to do.

At the 2018 European Championships I thought I’d run sub-44, was too excited and didn’t do the recovery process from the previous round. So I ran the same time again. That was a learning curve in itself. Stay even keeled. It is [sub-44] is exciting but it’s not the end goal that we want.

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