Hudson-Smith ready to emulate Liddell with Paris Olympics 400m gold

A century after 'Flying Scotsman' Liddell scorched to victory in the 1924 Paris Olympics -- a story immortalised in the 1981 Oscar-winning movie 'Chariots of Fire' -- Britain's Hudson-Smith will start firmly among the favourites when the opening rounds of the 400m get under way on Sunday.

The 29-year-old has arrived in Paris in peak form, clocking a blistering 43.74sec at last month's London Diamond League -- the fastest time in the world this year.

If Hudson-Smith reproduces that kind of form in Paris, he could well be celebrating a win worthy of its own Hollywood screenplay.

Three years ago, Hudson-Smith found himself isolated in the United States due to the Covid-19 pandemic and unable to race as he recovered from a torn hamstring and torn Achilles. Without health insurance, hefty medical bills began to pile up, leaving the Briton battling mental health problems, and at one stage attempting suicide.

"I had huge mental health issues in 2021," he revealed to the media after he won 400m bronze at the 2022 World Championships.

"Not a lot of people know this, but I literally attempted suicide."

Having been through "absolute hell" he bounced back helped by a lot of sympathetic messages.

"It's a story that a lot of people have gone through," he said in 2022.

"Weirdly enough, I used to think not a lot of people would relate to it, but I think it relates to a lot of people and if you're going through a tough time, there's always light at the end of the tunnel."

His family came to his rescue and he came out of it stronger.

"As long as you just stick to it anything can happen, you just have to believe and keep fighting the good fight," he said.

"If you just fight the fight, and you just keep the belief and you go through the rough patches, when you come out of it, you'll come out like a new person and you'll be stronger because of it."
'My life changed'
His spirits restored having come back from the pits of despair, he sparkled on the track, winning European gold and Commonwealth Games silver in 2022 followed by world silver in Budapest last year.

He feels the latter was a title that slipped from his grasp as he lost out by just 0.09 seconds to Jamaican Antonio Watson.

"I came here looking for gold," Hudson-Smith said at the time. "You are never satisfied and you're always going to want more.

"My Achilles has been mashed up bad. This has been like a mental battle.

"I came for the gold, tied up (in the) last 30 (metres) -– but under the circumstances, I can't complain."

Hudson-Smith's competitive edge was not always evident: he missed out on a football career when he was a youngster at the academy of Premier League club Wolves because of a laid-back attitude.

"When someone went past me, I'd go, 'I'll see you later,'" he told runnersworld.com prior to the Paris Olympics. "That's just me."

However, his life was to change when he raced in the Glasgow Diamond League meeting and ran a fast enough time to persuade him to switch to athletics.

"One race and my life changed," he told The Mirror newspaper.

European titles and world medals have made the change of direction worthwhile but an Olympic gold would transform his life.

"I'm going to the Olympics to win," he told runnersworld.com.

"I've done the work, I'm healthy and I'm one of the best in the world, so why not go in there to put that statement out there?"