In an exclusive interview with AW, the two-time Olympic medalist and 400m European 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 much of the early part of this year looking to the skies, but his hard winter training was instrumental in a record-breaking season.
Under coach Gary Evans, the 29-year-old dropped his 400m best from 44.26 to 43.44, breaking his European record four times, and won an Olympic silver medal as well as bronze in the relay in one lap.
in an exclusive interview in the October issue AW:Now, Hudson-Smith talks about her record-breaking season that saw Quincy Hall win Olympic gold, and why putting in so much hard work in training was worth it in the end.
For someone who has had well-documented struggles to overcome in recent years, both mental and physical, she has made great strides and approaches all areas of her life from a position of strength.
When it comes to day work, Hudson-Smith has never been stronger, and all that late winter pain has paved the way for a string of very impressive performances. It wasn’t until early summer that he began to see the fruits of his labor emerge.
Matthew Hudson-Smith (Jerry Sun/PUMA)
“We got off to a good start,” he says of his season back. “I opened at 45.00 (in mid-April), pretty standard. I had a bit of a hip problem at the time so it gave us a base to build on. We did the World Relays to get things back into shape and then I ran 44.69 in Jamaica and it went like this. “Okay, we’re cooking.”
“We went back to training and had a mock race session which showed me in below 44.10 form. After that, Gary told me. “This is what you can expect. This is what you’re going to run.” Only in Oslo I crossed the line and saw 44.07, I was like: “Okay, this guy knows what he’s talking about.”
The Diamond League performance at the end of May signaled a fraction of the European record of 44.26 set by Hudson-Smith in last year’s World Championships semi-final in Budapest. Nor was this the end of Evans’ unerringly accurate predictions.
“He’s got a little book, and in London (before the Diamond League meet in July), we did a mock race session again. The book said, ‘You’re in 43 shape,'” says Hudson-Smith.
When race day came, the world silver medalist broke the 44-second barrier for the first time and clocked 43.74, fully announcing herself as a contender for the Paris Olympic gold medal.
Olympic 400 m final (River)
“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 taking the gold just when it looked to be going the Briton’s way. However, if there is any lingering pain from that encounter at the Stade de France, Hudson-Smith certainly isn’t showing it. If anything, this entire summer just made him more excited about what’s possible.
“It was a hell of a race,” he says of that Olympic final. “I mean, five people running 43 seconds (first and second place) are the fourth and fifth fastest times in history. When you look at the numbers, it’s actually crazy how he (Hall) has done it, so I respect him. I am not happy. I am not satisfied. But at the time it was the best I could produce that day. I also know where I can go in the future.”
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