Rio Olympics 2016: More to come from Wolverhampton's Matthew Hudson-Smith after bagging place in tonight's 400m final
A place in the Olympic 400m final at your first attempt via a new personal best, you would think Wolverhampton's Matthew Hudson-Smith couldn't ask for anything more – you'd be wrong.
Running in the last of three semi-finals on Saturday night in Rio, Hudson-Smith was fully aware he needed to come in the top two or run a time he had never done before, such were the performances of his rivals in the opening two races.
In the end he did both – and all from lane eight.
While Grenada's Bralon Taplin crossed the line first, Hudson-Smith wasn't far behind and came home in 44.48 seconds, shaving 0.27 off his previous best, to join the likes of Lashawn Merritt and Kirani James in tonight's final starting around 2am tomorrow.
The latter are the champions from Beijing 2008 and London 2012 respectively, but 21-year-old Hudson-Smith believes there is more to come from him yet in Brazil after he was left frustrated by his race execution.
"Words cannot describe how much of a mess I made of that," said Hudson-Smith, from Lanesfield.
"I ran 44.48 and it wasn't the best of runs and I didn't execute at all.
"In the end I am a bit disappointed but at the other end I am in an Olympic final and I ran 44.48 off a bad run.
"I know there is a lot more in it if I execute properly, so I am just ecstatic right now.
"I am shocked because, one, I thought I came fourth, and two, I saw the time and I was like, 'what?'
"I am in the final, I ran 44.48 – it was just a crazy, crazy experience."
Elsewhere at Rio 2016, Laura Unsworth and Lily Owsley helped Great Britain's women's hockey team maintain their unbeaten record with a 2-1 victory over the USA in their final pool game.
Great Britain fell behind on 39 minutes to a Michelle Vittesse strike, but two quick-fire goals from Sophie Bray and Alex Danson turned the tables.
The result means Great Britain have won all five of their pool games and face Spain in the quarter-final on Monday.
