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World 400m silver medallist wants to become “like the Six Million Dollar Man” so he can fully take aim at the top prize in Paris
He came so close. With 40 metres of the men’s 400m final at the World Championships to go, Matthew Hudson-Smith was out in front. But, as he attempted to engage the gear which would give him the closing speed to secure gold, it simply wasn’t there and a late surge from Jamaica’s Antonio Watson meant he had to settle for silver.
It was a frustrating climax to a frustrating year. An at times crippling battle with Achilles tendinitis meant races had to be kept to a minimum, training was disrupted and the run-in to Budapest consisted of a catch-up programme of running, pool work and almost relentless physio.
Adding to the exasperation was the fact that, when Hudson-Smith was good, he was very, very good. In the semi-final in Budapest, he broke the 36-year-old European record with a time of 44.26, having “shut it down” with 50m to go. That meant hopes were high for the final but the lack of race time meant a lack of consistency just when he needed it most.
In the knowledge that, at his peak, the European champion is firmly in the mix with the world’s best, his top priority going into the winter has been to make himself as robust as possible before he gets into the meat of preparations which he hopes will carry him seamlessly towards the Olympics.
It’s a process with the intention of turning him into, as he puts it, “The Six Million Dollar Man” – a reference to the 1970s TV sci-fi series in which the hero is rebuilt to possess superhuman strength, vision and, most importantly, speed.
Coached by Gary Evans in America, Hudson-Smith trains alongside the man who will be one of his main rivals for glory in Paris – Olympic champion Steven Gardiner of the Bahamas. AW caught up with Hudson-Smith during a return to the UK last month, where he was making a visit to his club Birchfield Harriers and the remodelled Alexander Stadium.
Matt Hudson-Smith (Getty)
What has it been like being back in Birmingham?
Like memory lane. I grew up here so I know this track. It’s almost like being in a new home but it’s not your home, it’s been really renovated. And the track’s blue! I can’t get used to that. The staff are all the same, though, and I know them all so it’s been great to see them.
I’ve been decompressing in a way where I got to see family and friends, but I’ve been busy seeing everyone. It’s definitely a mental break from the track but it’s been like Matt on Tour!
Do your friends and family treat you any differently?
Everyone just treats me the same. My mum still tells me off if I don’t clean the room and my friends are like: ‘You might be some big-time runner but you’re still Matt’. I’d feel a bit weird if people treated me a bit differently so it’s nice that everyone has remained quite constant.
It’s been a difficult year for you to negotiate. What mark out of 10 would you give your season?
I’d say a solid six. It wasn’t the best of seasons because it was so inconsistent. We had our issues but then, when it came together, I almost pulled off [winning the world title].
There were a lot of highs and a lot of lows. Everyone else seemed to have smooth sailings and was able to have a lot more races or race preparation compared to myself.
It wasn’t the best of preparations and, to come away with a medal, I can’t really complain but, at the same time, I know there’s more and I wanted more.
What hampered me was my own body. I love competing – it’s the best part about athletics. It’s showing off those 43, 44 seconds of what you’ve done, almost expressing yourself in a way that only you can. That’s why I do the sport.
I would have been happier with just losing the race with my body being 100 per cent. I would have been okay with that. But losing the race and not being able to perform at my best because of my own body – I think that’s what was more frustrating for me at the time.
But the silver lining is that the Olympics are just around the corner so I’m doing everything to be right for that.
Matthew Hudson-Smith (Getty)
In that last 30, 40 metres of that final, were you looking to engage a gear that just wasn’t there because of the fitness issues?
In the semi-final, I had that gear. It was there. I’d hoped it would be there for the final but it wasn’t because I didn’t have the amount of racing [I’d needed across the season] and I’d taken my body to a place where it had never been before.
The semi-final didn’t hurt as badly as I thought it would. I thought I’d be absolutely destroyed or neurally fatigued but I was calm. You get the lactic and everything but the day after, when it usually settles in, I was just normal.
At the Rio Olympics, I ran a PB in the semi-final and I was fried. I was so smoked whereas this one I was like: ‘Oh, I feel good’. So it’s exciting.
How are you feeling going into winter and how much work have you had to do with the Achilles?
I got an email from the coach saying: ‘This is going to be the hardest autumn you’ve ever had’ and I was thinking to myself: ‘So what have I been doing for the past two years?’.
I started a little bit earlier, just because I wanted to get things fixed and I want to set a good foundation for the year and get my body strong.
I want to come away from this year saying I’ve done everything in my power [to be in the strongest position]. I want to be more robust so I can do my races and train repeatedly rather than have broken training sessions where I train one day but then can’t train for the rest of the week. I want to make myself more bulletproof, like the Six Million Dollar Man.
Matt Hudson-Smith (Getty)
How difficult was it to keep yourself in contention to compete? There must have been points in the summer where you didn’t really know if it would happen.
There was the mental side of going on to the track, not knowing if [the Achilles] was going to go and you have to blank out a lot of that. Sometimes you can go into a race on a high and then all of a sudden your confidence can come crashing down and you have to pick yourself up. Having a good team around me helps me with the psych side.
Physically, I was doing all the sessions that I’m terrible at, in the pool, on the bike, lactic every single day. When I’m healthy I’m more of a ‘one or two timed runs and I’m done’ guy. That’s the dream.
But it was track, gym, pool, treatment, rehab – we crammed all of these workouts into a three-week block [running up to Budapest]. I basically lived with my physio for three weeks. It was a crazy period.
Have you managed to avoid having surgery on your Achilles?
I remember when I tore it in 2019 I didn’t want surgery and even this year [it’s the same]. Tendinitis is one of those annoying ones where sometimes you’ll wake up and it will be perfect and sometimes I’ll just do a warm-up and it will flare up.
The UK Championships was a perfect example of it. I had the best warm-up I’d had in weeks and I felt good. I was ready. And then as soon as I stepped on to the track it flared up.
I went into the blocks and tried to ignore it. I pushed out and tried to go again, then it started cramping and on the back straight it just went. I was like: ‘You’ve got to be kidding’.
It’s just an annoying injury. It’s like an ongoing nag.
Are you not proud that you still gave yourself a shot at the world title?
I’m a bit of a fighter and I do like a challenge. I was proud I managed to show what I can do, in a sense. Also, I was proud to have backed up what I did at the World Championships [in 2022, winning bronze]. Winning a medal once is one thing but doing it again solidified everything.
Sometimes it’s a very short memory because everyone is in the now so it’s nice to back it up and that’s it a case of: ‘Okay, it wasn’t a fluke, he’s one of the guys you should look out for’.
Now it’s on to Paris and hopefully I can do it again.
Matt Hudson-Smith (Getty)
How different do you think you are as an athlete and a person since your last Olympic appearance in 2016?
I think I’ve always been the same person but I think I’ve grown up a bit and I’m understanding the sport. In 2016, it was just blissful ignorance in the sense of: ‘I’m at the Olympics, this is pretty cool’. I remember going out for the heats, seeing the Olympic rings and feeling: ‘Woah, this is real’.
I made the final and then there was the blissful ignorance of being in the world’s fastest race [when Wayde van Niekerk won gold in a world record of 43.03]. I was in lane seven and Wayde was in eight and I was thinking: ‘I’m going to take him out in the first 50m’ and then I didn’t!
Obviously 2021 didn’t go the way I wanted it to [having to withdraw] but I grew up a little bit during that time. I’ve kept the innocence of 2016 but added the maturity of 2021 and that’s helped mould me into where I am now – one of the best 400m runners in the world.
I like beating people. There’s almost a joy to being able to say ‘I’m faster than you’ or ‘I’m no 1’. Whether I’m number 50 or number whatever, I still have that aspect of ‘I’m going to beat you’ and that competitive drive. It comes in handy.
Steven Gardiner (Getty)
What’s your set-up like, training in the group with Steven Gardiner?
Coach kind of keeps us separate, because we go too fast! If we’re doing a 300m and coach asks us to do it in 32 then we’ll just casually drop a 31 or something even crazier and then we’ll look at each other and go ‘oh, sorry’.
When we’re doing the 400m base stuff we’ll all be together but when it’s competition time, it’s almost like an Olympic or world final like in training so you kind of know what to expect.
It’s such a good measuring stick because you’re training alongside the Olympic champion.
The men’s 400m for the Olympics looks like being a very open event. Gardiner is coming back from injury, but there are a range of people all in with a shout
I think it’s one of the most exciting events going into the Olympics because you just don’t know. Everyone’s more or less on the same wavelength. I think it’s going to come down to who gets to 300m and then wants it the most.
» This article first appeared in the November issue of AW magazine, which you can read here
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