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Matthew Hudson-Smith booked his place in Wednesday night’s 400m final with a dominant semi-final performance at Stade de France.
The Wolverhampton athlete immediately started chasing down his challengers, and was ahead by a few metres at the final stretch.
He flew towards the finish in 44.07 before seeming to slow down as he approached, and pumped his fist after getting the job done.
It is a second Olympic final for the 29-year-old, who finished last at the Rio 2016 Games and missed Tokyo 2020 due to injury.
He claimed his first major medal with world bronze in 2022, then upgraded to silver at last year’s world championships in Budapest.
Charlie Dobson, the other Briton in the mix, was unable to progress from the first semi-final.
The 24-year-old at one point held the lead as the men entered the back stretch before dropping back, digging deep to claw back to see himself across the line fourth in 44.48.
Lina Nielsen’s Olympics came to an end in heart-breaking fashion after falling at the final hurdle in her 400 metres hurdles semi-final.
The 28-year-old was in with an outside shot of booking an automatic place with a top-two finish, locked in a late battle for third with before ruling herself out.
Nielsen’s twin sister Laviai was part of the 4×400 metres mixed relay team who won bronze for Great Britain on Saturday.
Jessie Knight also bowed out of the picture with a sixth-place finish in her semi-final.
Dutch world champion Femke Bol topped that group in 52.57 seconds to set up her hotly-anticipated battle with the United States’ Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone, the defending Olympic champion and fastest of the semi-finalists in 52.13.
The evening session kicked off with a medal presentation ceremony for Monday night’s medallists, including British 800m champion Keely Hodgkinson.
The Atherton athlete, who was presented her gold medal by World Athletics president and two-time Olympic champion Lord Coe, shed a tear on the podium as ‘God Save the King’ played.
