Matthew Hudson-Smith pulls up in Diamond League final
Matthew Hudson-Smith’s season ended in frustrating fashion as he pulled up in the Diamond League 400 metre final before fellow Brit Charlie Dobson went on to claim a stunning victory.
The 24-year-old was the surprise winner in Brussels as he stormed through to claim the trophy and £23,000 in prize money.
That came after Wolverhampton’s Hudson-Smith, who entered Friday night’s race as favourite, pulled up inside the opening 200m.
The 29-year-old had been looking to cap an excellent year, in which he won two medals at Paris 2024 and twice broke his own European record, with the Diamond League title.
But just as in last month’s Olympic final, when he was pipped on the line by Quincy Hall and had to settle for silver, things did not go to plan.
Hudson-Smith was aiming to become just the second 400m runner to ever go under 44 seconds four times in the same season.
But on a chilly night in the Belgian capital he was slow out of the blocks and had almost been caught by Grenada’s Kirani James by the time he pulled up on the back straight.
It was just the second race this season Hudson-Smith had entered and not claimed victory. For all his success, on the two biggest stages fortune has deserted him.
Instead, it was Dobson’s night. The European silver medallist, who claimed Olympic bronze alongside Hudson-Smith in the 4x400m relay, tore down the final straight to beat James and Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga in a time of 44.49 seconds.
