Matt Hudson-Smith revealed he attempted suicide a year ago after winning Britain’s fourth medal of the World Championships.
The softly spoken Brummie dropped the bombshell after taking Bronze in the men’s 400 metres on the biggest day of his sporting life.
“It’s been tough, man. It’s been an emotional rollercoaster,” said the first British male quarter miler since Roger Black 31 years ago to win a world medal.
“2019 I tore my Achilles, tore my hamstring, messed up my hip. 2020 was Covid. Huge mental health issues in 2021. Yeah. Not a lot of people know this, but I literally attempted suicide.”
The Florida-based star was not finished talking. Having kept his emotion in check through three rounds he now wanted it all off his chest.
“I was racing knowing I was hurt all the time,” he continued. “Going to races knowing I wasn’t 100 per cent. I couldn’t do the Olympics for several reasons.
“I lost my sponsorship, didn’t have medical insurance in America and got a huge debt. I applied for and was denied my Green Card.
“Losing people like Lloyd [coach Lloyd Cowan], who was a huge influence in my life and [former GB boss] Mr [Neil] Black, who were always there for me..
“Imagine stepping on the line knowing you’re hurt. You have a whole load of pressure because everyone expects a lot from you. You expect a lot from yourself.
“I talked to a lot of people about not doing the sport, about becoming an electrician… and now I’ve got this medal.”
He reached for the piece of metal hanging round his neck and it seemed to snap him out of the moment, taking him from a difficult past to a present he had put himself through so much to achieve.
Kirani James, London 2012 Olympic champion and silver medallist here behind new champion Michael Norman, passed by and patted him on the back.
Still Hudson-Smith didn’t seem quite able to believe what he had achieved, the one-time Asda shelf stacker who burst onto the scene in 2014 when Army life was his only option.
The 27-year old, who has cleared his debts since getting picked up by Puma, will know it is true when he heads to his hometown Commonwealth Games next week, perhaps passing the supermarket in which he used to stack shelves en route to rapturous acclaim.
If his was a remarkable day then Sydney McLaughlin took extraordinary to a whole new level, obliterating her own 400m hurdles world record by a massive 0.73secs.
It was the fourth time in 13 months she had lowered the mark, dropping it from 52.16 to 50.68, and it earned her a US$100,000 bonus.
To put that in some sort of context Victoria Ohuruogu, Britain’s fastest 400m FLAT female runner, has not run that quick this year.
Yet as Hayward Field celebrated, McLaughlin insisted she can do better.
The 22-year old said: “There’s always more than can be shaven off, for sure. There’s no such thing as a perfect race.”
Earlier in the day Britain’s sprint relay teams both won through to tomorrow’s finals - but the women far more impressively than the men.
Asha Philip, Imani Lansiquot, Ashley Nelson and Daryll Neita qualified second fastest behind the US in 41.99secs.
But Adam Gemili, Zharnel Hughes, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Reece Prescod looked clunky as they advanced only seventh fastest in 38.49.
