MATTHEW HUDSON-SMITH suffered Olympic 400m heartbreak as he was pipped at the post by world champion Quincy Hall despite a personal-best time.
The 29-year-old from Wolverhampton was attempting to become the first British man to win this event for Britain since Eric Liddell in Paris exactly a century ago.
Liddell, who wouldn’t run his favoured 100m in Paris because it was being held on a Sunday, was the subject of the 1981 Oscar-winning 1981 film Chariots of Fire.
But there will be no silver-screen treatment of Vangelis music for Hudson-Smith, who was beaten at the final dip by American Hall, despite having charged into the lead down the final straight.
It was the second time in successive nights that a British athlete had been edged out at the death by an American despite running the best time of their lives – following Josh Kerr in the 1,500m on Tuesday.
Hudson-Smith had also been bidding to become the first British man to win an Olympic sprint gold since Linford Christie in Barcelona in 1992
The former room-mate of newly-crowned Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles overtook Trinidad’s Jereem Richards off the final bend but Hall arrived like a train to defeat him by just 0.04secs.
Hudson-Smith’s time of 43.44sec was the fastest lap ever run by a European – but he had to content himself with a silver to go with the one he earned behind Hall at the World Championships in Budapest last year.
Hudson-Smith arrived in Paris as the fastest man in the world over one lap this year – with a previous personal best time of 43.74sec, which beat his own European record in London last month.
And the Brit had breezed to victory in his semi-final on Tuesday night, pretty much jogging the last 50m because he was so far ahead of the field.
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The omens were good and, on form, he was the favourite for gold.
Roger Black, a silver medallist in Atlanta in 1996, had been the only British man to even reach the Olympic podium in this event since the Second World War.
Hudson-Smith, a former Asda check-out man, and a pretty nifty zapper of barcodes, was in the Wolves football academy until the age of 11 – admitting that pace, rather than ball control, was his chief asset.
He thought about joining the army but turned to professional athletics – although his career had been seriously hampered by injury.
Hudson-Smith became so troubled by injury and financial worries that attempted to take his own life in 2021 – after being stuck in the United States, racking up medical bills, during lockdown.
Since those desperate times, he has truly emerged as an elite athlete, taking a bronze and silver at the last two World Championships.
It had promised to be a big night for Britain at the Stade de France, with world indoor pole-vault champion Molly Caudery well fancied – but the stick-wielder had failed to qualify for the finals in the high-bar action.
So it was down to Hudson-Smith to bring home the precious metal.
Surprisingly, this wasn’t the final race of the night with the 3,000m steeplechase, surprisingly, topping the bill – something that wouldn’t have happened in Michael Johnson’s day.
Hudson-Smith emerged with a single finger raised, aiming for the No1 spot.
Then the heartbeat soundtrack pulsated and Hudson-Smith made a fine start, seeming to time his run to perfection only for Hall to prove even more perfect still.
