Matt Hudson-Smith helps GB into relay final at Birmingham 2026

Matt Hudson-Smith’s hopes of landing double gold at Birmingham 2026 remain alive after helping Great Britain qualify for Sunday night’s 4x400 metre relay final.

The 31-year-old was back on track at Alexander Stadium barely 36 hours after being crowned 400m European champion to compete in Friday morning’s relay heats.

Hudson-Smith ran the anchor leg as the British quartet advanced to the final, albeit in slightly more dramatic fashion than desired after only finishing third.

The former Birchfield Harrier looked on course for victory but was blocked off on the inside by France’s Yann Spillmann before - in what was almost an action replay of his individual semi-final - being overtaken by Jonas Phijffers of the Netherlands on the line.

It proved somewhat academic as the French team were later disqualified for a lane infringement during a changeover earlier in the race.

Hudson-Smith said: “There was a lot of traffic but it was good, we got the big Q and that’s all that matters.

“I'm from here, so it's very special, but I don't want to speak for the boys but running in front of your home crowd is amazing and getting to compete in front of family for the final is amazing.”

Hudson-Smith’s individual gold was his eighth European medal, drawing him level with French legend Christophe Lemaitre.

He can move into the outright lead with a medal on Sunday.

Discussing what happened at the finish of Friday’s race, he said: “He (Spillmann) kind of blocked it off. I tried to go past him on the inside.

“I tried to save as much energy as possible by not going around him. I guess I need some advice on that from the 800m and 1,500m boys.

“It would have stopped my momentum if I had tried to go around. I saw that we were in contention for second and the Dutch lad again tried to sneak around.

“I just thought, I will see you in the final.”