Solely three years in the past, Hudson-Smith was damaged.
Bodily, mentally, financially.
Accidents had led him to accrue substantial debt resulting from medical prices and a lack of sponsors, earlier than ending his hopes of competing in Tokyo.
These occasions coincided with the Covid-19 pandemic and Hudson-Smith struggled together with his psychological well being, enduring three years of “absolute hell” as he remained remoted from his household in the US.
Having put his darkest days behind him, Hudson-Smith stated his world bronze in 2022 was “only the start”.
He was not fallacious.
Regardless of scuffling with Achilles tendonitis all through the 2023 season, Hudson-Smith upgraded that medal with a shocking, gutsy run behind Jamaica’s Antonio Watson on the Worlds in Budapest.
Regardless of his disrupted preparations, Hudson-Smith was removed from happy – and the indicators had been extraordinarily optimistic in 2024 as he constructed in the direction of his goal.
He set a brand new European document of 44.07 in Oslo in Could and improved that to 43.74 on the London Diamond League, simply six days earlier than the Paris opening ceremony.
He ran sooner nonetheless in pursuit of Olympic glory on Wednesday night time, however it was nonetheless not sufficient to carry off the fast-finishing Corridor, who received bronze behind Hudson-Smith final yr.
“I arrange precisely the best way my coach advised me to. We knew it was going to return all the way down to the final 50 metres,” stated Hudson-Smith.
“I genuinely thought I had it. He had one other gear. I hit the gear slightly bit too late and because it got here up he had one step on me and that is it.”