In an exclusive interview with AW, the double Olympic medallist and European 400m record-holder discusses his record-breaking season, the predictive powers of his coach Gary Evans and why the road to success isn’t always smooth
Matthew Hudson-Smith spent a lot of the early part of this year “looking up to the sky” but his arduous winter training proved instrumental in what has been a record-breaking season.
Under the guidance of coach Gary Evans, the 29-year-old dropped his personal 400m best from 44.26 to 43.44 – breaking his own European record on four occasions – and claimed an Olympic silver medal over one lap, plus a bronze in the relay.
In an exclusive interview in the October issue of AW, out now, Hudson-Smith opens up about his record-breaking season, being pipped to Olympic gold by Quincy Hall and why stomaching such hard work in training was ultimately worth it.
For someone who has had well-documented struggles – both mental and physical – to overcome in recent years, he has taken great strides forward and is approaching every area of his life from a position of strength.
When it comes to the day job, Hudson-Smith has never been stronger and all of that late winter pain paved the way to a very impressive series of performances. It was in early summer that he began to see the fruits of his labour emerging.
Matthew Hudson-Smith (Jerry Sun/PUMA)
“We started off nicely,” he says, going back through his season. “I opened up with 45.00 [in mid-April], pretty standard. I had a little bit of hip issue at the time so it gave us something to build on. We did the World Relays to get back into the shape of things, then I ran 44.69 in Jamaica and it was like: ‘Okay, we’re cooking’.
“We went back to training and did a race model session that showed I was in sub-44.10 shape. It was after that that Gary said to me: ‘This is what you can expect. This is what you’re going to run’. It wasn’t until I crossed the line in Oslo and saw 44.07 that I was like: ‘Okay, this guy knows what he’s talking about!’.”
That Diamond League performance at the end of May signalled the removal of a chunk from the European record of 44.26 Hudson-Smith had set in the semi-finals of the World Championships in Budapest last year. It was not the end of Evans’ unerringly accurate predictions, either.
“He has a little book and, in London [ahead of the Diamond League meeting in July], again we did a race model session. In the book it said: ‘You’re in 43 shape’,” says Hudson-Smith.
When it came to race day, the world silver medallist broke the 44-second barrier for the first time and clocked 43.74 to fully announce himself as an Olympic gold medal contender for Paris.
Olympic 400m final (Getty)
“I believe everything Gary says now! Even for the Olympic final, he said I was going to run 43.42. I ran 43.44.”
That time brought the silver medal, with Quincy Hall’s flying finish famously snatching gold just when it looked to be heading the way of the Briton. If there is any lingering sense of heartache about that encounter in the Stade de France, though, Hudson-Smith certainly isn’t showing it. If anything, this whole summer has simply made him more excited about what might be possible.
“It was one hell of a race,” he says of that Olympic final. “I mean, five people ran 43 seconds – [first and second place were the] fourth and fifth-fastest times in history. When you look at the numbers, it’s actually insane how he [Hall] did it, so I give him all the respect. I’m not happy. I’m not satisfied. But, at that time, it was the best of what I could produce on that day. I also know where I can go in the future.”
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