Silver For GB’s Matthew Hudson-Smith As USA’s Quincy Hall Wins Men’s 400m

USA’s Quincy Hall put in a sensational sprint finish to win the men’s 400m Olympic gold, beating Team GB’s Matthew Hudson-Smith by just four-hundredths of a second. Zambia’s Muzala Samukonga won bronze. 

Hall’s winning time of 43.40 was the fourth fastest 400m of all time, with Hudson-Smith running the fifth fastest in history, and in doing so he ran a new personal best and lowered his own British and European 400m record in a phenomenal performance on the track in Paris. 

If this was a 399m race, it was Hudson-Smith’s gold. He led coming off the final bend, and looked to be heading for Britain’s first men’s 400m gold in 100 years, but Hall ran an incredible final 50m to go from fourth to first. 

This is a wonderful comeback for Hudson-Smith who struggled with mental and physical health after the pandemic, before winning bronze in the 2022 World Championships and upgrading that to silver at the 2023 World Championships. He was the fastest man over 400m this year going into the final, and it took a historically fast time to beat him. 

We’ll likely see Hudson-Smith run again in the men’s 4x400m relay, looking to get his gold medal. He can take enormous confidence going into the relays knowing that he’s the Olympic silver medallist and the fifth fastest man of all time. 

SOUFIANE EL BAKKALI WINS MEN’S 3000M STEEPLECHASE GOLD FOR MOROCCO

Morocco’s Soufiane El Bakkali won the men’s 3000m steeplechase in a time of 8:06.05, retaining his Olympic title from Tokyo. USA’s Ken Rooks finished second in 8:06.41, and Kenya’s Abraham Kibiwot was third in 8:06.47.

TODAY’S OTHER ACTION IN PARIS

There was chaos in the Men’s 5000m earlier, with four men colliding and falling in one heat. They were all later progressed into the final. After finishing a disappointing fourth in the 1500m yesterday, Jakob Ingebrigtsen eased into the final. Because of the falls, there’ll be 20 men in the Olympic 5000m final.

In the Men’s 800m, GB’s Elliot Giles progressed from round one having only been called up last week as a replacement for the injured Jake Wightman. GB’s Ben Pattison and Max Burgin also make the semi finals. They run again on Friday morning. 

Olympic 100m champion Noah Lyles is through to the final of the Men’s 200m. Alongside him will be tough competition from USA’s Kenneth Bednarek and Botswana’s Letsile Tebogo.

In the Women’s 400m semi finals, GB’s Amber Anning ran a personal best to make the final, but neither Laviai Nielsen nor Victoria Ohuruogu join her. 

Coming up tomorrow we’ve got the men’s 200m final, the women’s 400m hurdle final and the men’s 110m hurdle final. 

Here’s the full running schedule of events to come this week at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. 

If you want to hear more about what it’s like to be in Paris for the Olympics then Sarah, Andy and Rick are over there recording a daily podcast. You can listen to The Running Channel podcast here!

Photo Getty Images / Patrick Smith