Most scars eventually heal, but some sting and linger more than others. That is something that Laura Muir and Matthew Hudson-Smith can testify after a night of contrasting fortunes for two of Britain’s best athletes.
Muir, a 2021 Olympics and 2022 world medallist, arrived in Budapest trying to convince herself she was in the best form of her life despite a split from her longstanding coach Andy Young. But, in a stacked women’s 1500m final, the reality was painfully different. When the action heated up in the final lap she had nothing more left in the tank as she finished sixth in 3min 58.58sec.
Meanwhile Hudson-Smith, who was last seen being pushed off the track in a wheelchair at the London Anniversary Games in July and has endured daily pain in his foot all year, somehow found the resolve to break a European 400m record that had stood for 36 years.
Sadly for the 30-year-old Muir, the happy ending she had desperately wished for did not materialise. But afterwards she was rightly proud of the way she has fought back after leaving Young, after he refused to allow her and her former training partner, Jemma Reekie, to use a car to go to a coffee shop that was two miles away when they were in South Africa.
“It’s been very, very hard. It’s very different,” she said. “I’ve been used to a certain situation for 12 years. It’s different but it’s very positive. It’s going to take time. You can’t rush these things. It’s not an excuse for the way I ran today. I’m proud of the way I ran. I did the best I could.”
Muir was in fifth at the bell, which would usually be a signal for her to apply the hammer. Instead when Faith Kipyegon put the squeeze on Muir quickly went backwards. Soon Kipyegon was powering home in 3:54:87 to claim a third world title and further garland a season where she has broken the 1500m and 5,000m world record. The Ethiopian Dirbe Welteji was second, while the Dutch athlete Sifan Hassan was third. Ireland’s Ciara Mageean was fourth in national record 3:56.51.
“I thought I positioned myself well,” Muir said. “It was slow and I was covering moves but that last lap was crazy. However, I felt like I won before coming into this race because I am happy. It has been hard but I can’t thank the number of people that have supported me – it has been amazing.”
Muir, who finished ahead of her British teammates Katie Snowden – who was eighth in 3:59.65 – and Melissa Courtney-Bryant – who was 12th – said: “I feel I lost a lot of time with the disruption. I wasn’t clawing it back but I needed to get into a new rhythm and reset. It took a lot out of me and we saw that in some races this year. It’s looking positive.”
Hudson-Smith was delighted to break Thomas Schönlebe’s European record, which the East German set while winning gold at the world championships in 1987, after running a time of 44.26 easing down.
“My coach told me beforehand to enjoy it,” said Hudson-Smith, who qualified second fastest for the final. “I have worked too damned hard to not get to the final. Now it is all about getting that medal on Thursday.”
Hudson-Smith’s qualifying time was behind only the Jamaican Antonio Watson who ran 44.13. He now has a realistic shot at a gold medal, especially after the Olympic champion and pre-race favourite, Stephen Gardiner, was taken off the track in a wheelchair after appearing to tear a hamstring. “When I knew I was clear, I was saving something for the final, and I did that,” said Hudson-Smith. “I just need to get that medal now.”
However, the noisiest celebrations of the night came after the men’s high jump after the Italian Gianmarco Tamberi, who shared the gold medal with Mutaz Barshim at the Tokyo Olympics, finally won his first world outdoor title with a clearance of 2.36m.
Tamberi, who was still being serenaded by Italian fans for nearly an hour after his victory, came ahead of the American JuVaughn Harrison, who won silver with Barshim taking the bronze medal.
On Wednesday, British eyes will largely be focused on the men’s 1500m final, where Team GB has two live medal contenders in the form of the Tokyo bronze medallist Josh Kerr and the European indoor silver medallist Neil Gourley. The Olympic champion, Jakob Ingebrigtsen, will be hard to beat, but Kerr said: “He’s human like everyone else.”
