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American world sprint champion Noah Lyles is backing former room-mate Matthew Hudson-Smith to win Olympic gold – and ideally a knighthood.
Wolverhampton world 400m silver medallist Hudson-Smith seems to be peaking at just the right time in Paris after laying down a world-leading, European record 43.74 at the London Diamond League meet two weeks ago.
Such is the deep history between the two track talents that Hudson-Smith was once known as “the third Lyles brother”.
Upon mere mention of the Briton’s name, Lyles breaks into a wide grin and exclaims “my boy!”
“It’s looking very strong. I’m voting for him for sure,” Lyles, who goes for 100m gold on Sunday – the same night Hudson-Smith’s 400m heats begin – told the PA news agency.
“It’s funny, I don’t know if he’s told anybody yet, but I remember when he was like, ‘As soon as I’ve won a medal I’m retiring.’
“He won a medal two years ago, and he’s still going, so I’m hoping that he gets knighted and I get to see him get knighted. Sir Matthew Hudson-Smith.”
Former Wolves academy product Hudson-Smith’s parents first took him to a track to keep him out of trouble.
He ran a 44 second split on his first real competitive shot at the distance as part of the 4x400m squad at the 2013 European Junior Championships, then individually with 44.97 at the Glasgow British Athletics Grand Prix in his first senior season the following year.
But Hudson-Smith had a wake-up call two years after his tremendous anchor leg secured England Commonwealth gold in Glasgow, finishing bottom of an eight-man 400m final at the Rio 2016 Olympics won by South Africa’s Wayde van Niekerk in what remains a world record-setting time of 43.03, the first last-place finish of his career.
Hudson-Smith decided he was getting complacent in England, so in 2017 he moved to Florida to train under Lance Brauman, who that same year also took under his wing an up-and-coming 2016 US junior champion named Noah Lyles.
I remember his favourite saying, ‘it is what it is’— Noah Lyles on Matthew Hudson-Smith
Two years later, Hudson-Smith was looking for somewhere to live.
Lyles explained: “Me and my brother bought a house. He didn’t really want to do the apartment thing, and I was just like, ‘Well, why don’t you come and live with me and Josephus just for a little while? We have an extra room.’
“And he was like, ‘oh yeah!’ So he was living with us. I learned a lot about Matt in that one year. I learned that he does not like to wipe off his feet before he leaves the bathroom, so the carpet from the bathroom from his room is always going to be wet and he loves to cut it very, very close when leaving for practice.
“I also learned that at the end of the day he is just a goofy guy, he just likes to have fun. He’s carefree. I remember his favourite saying, ‘it is what it is’, and I would always be like, ‘what the heck does that mean, Matt?’
“I’m carefree but not to the point where I don’t have any type of plan, and sometimes he’d just go out for hours. I’d be like, ‘Where have you been?’ and he’d go, ‘Oh! I’m just walking around.’”
Hudson-Smith lived with the sprinting Lyles brothers for a year, growing so close that, by a certain point, remembers the Briton, “I was called the third Lyles. I’ve seen behind the scenes all the hard work [Noah] has done himself and I’m proud of him.”
Take away their divided opinions about mopping up and the close friends have plenty in common.
I know the real him— Hudson-Smith on Noah Lyles
Both men have spoken candidly about their mental health challenges, Hudson-Smith’s leading to a suicide attempt in 2021 after a horrific string of events that forced him out of the postponed Tokyo 2020 Olympics, injuries led to him losing his sponsors and – without insurance – crushing financial debt.
Hudson-Smith’s mentor Lloyd Cowan passed away aged 58 that January, the same year the he found himself isolated in America, far away from family and friends during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Lyles was the 200m favourite in Tokyo, travelling to Japan as the reigning world champion, and after collecting bronze opened up about a lifelong battle with depression exacerbated by the hollow atmosphere and empty stadiums marring his first experience of an Olympic Games.
The American is now the reigning world champion at 100m and 200m, while Hudson-Smith picked himself up from rock bottom to claim world bronze in 2022 and silver in 2023.
Both are also misunderstood men – Lyles for a bravado that betrays his vulnerability and Hudson-Smith for a carefree nature that masks the fiercely competitive spirit that could place him on the podium in Paris, where he would be sure to celebrate with the man who once rented him a spare room.
Hudson-Smith added: “I think (Lyles) is a bit controversial at times, but that’s just him as a person and I know the real him.
“Sometimes what you see is not what you get. Whatever he says is going to be headlines. He’s a good person. That’s my boy. I’m as proud of his successes as he is proud of mine, and I’ll always be gunning for him.”
