US icon reveals world leader Matthew Hudson-Smith's most improved trait ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

US icon reveals world leader Matthew Hudson-Smith's most improved trait ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics

Mark Kinyanjui 10:30 - 30.07.2024

Hudson-Smith set a World Leading time 43.74 at the London Diamond League classic last week to put him in good form ahead of Paris 2024 Olympics.

Former American sprinter Justin Gatlin has expounded on how British sprint star Matthew Hudson-Smith has revived himself ahead of the Olympics after setting the World Leading 400m time at the London Diamond League classic last week.

Hudson-Smith has hit form at the right moment for himself. Although he has been in the professional scene for a long time now, with his first major senior event being the 400m at the Rio 2016 Olympics, where he finished rock-bottom in the finals.

It took a while before he started making podiums, and even delved into detail back in April on the Ready Set Go podcast on how he contemplated quitting the sport.

During that time, Hudson-Smith dominated the H6 and SF3 events, qualifying for the finals in Brazil. It was a proud moment for the athlete but he also felt boastful about it.

He recalled how he came from an injury and achieved the feats making him feel too proud of himself. However, this sense of superiority hit him hard when he could not perform like he thought he would.

However, he opted to relocate to the USA seeking to make improvements to his sprinting, and got to train with the likes of Noah Lyles in order to improve.

It made him start making gradual improvements at major championships. He won Bronze at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, before claiming silver at the event in Budapest a year later.

Now, he is the world leader at 43.74, and is going to be in a competitive line up at the Olympics, which also includes Quincy Hall and The Bahamas teammate and Tokyo Olympic champion Steven Gardiner.

Now, Gatlin has revealed how Hudson-Smith has turned his fortunes around in order to make himself joint-favorite for the gold in 2024.

“It was not just the fact that he wanted to take himself out, it was the fact of, he felt like no one understood how he felt,” Gatlin said.

“But I am glad he was able to overcome all of that and now look at him. He just needed to have that focus again,” Gatlin said.

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