Wolverhampton's Matt Hudson-Smith backed to take Olympic glory

The Wolverhampton sprinter missed out on Tokyo 2020 with injury before breaking Thomas’ British record in 2022 when he claimed his first individual world medal.

Hudson-Smith upgraded world bronze for silver in 2023 before breaking the European 400m record earlier this year to head to Paris 2024 in scintillating form.

The 29-year-old will be joined by young prodigy Charlie Dobson, 24 in the French capital.

And Olympic silver medallist Thomas, who will be working with Eurosport and discovery+ for their coverage, said: “This is definitely Matthew Hudson-Smith’s time.

“If he can just do what he has done all season, I think he can do it.

“Stephen Gardiner, the reigning champion, ran 44.3, he is not running as fast as Matt. But that is an athlete that can do it and has proven he can do it.

“If Matt can hold his nerve, I think he can be crowned Olympic champion and Charlie Dobson will be on his heels.

“I predict Charlie Dobson will surprise a lot of people, I think he will medal as well. I think Britain can have not only two finalists but two medalists as well.”

Thomas was in the Olympic final the last time Britain had two finalists back at Atlanta 1996 and believes youngster Charlie Dobson could follow in his footsteps.

Dobson was crowned British champion earlier this year with Hudson-Smith racing across 200m instead.

Thomas added: “Matt has been brilliant for a couple of seasons, for people who don’t know his story, he moved out to America, changed his lifestyle massively, and he has always had the promise.

“Even as a youngster, he showed great potential, but he wasn’t very consistent, the one thing with Matt in the past, he may run a very fast race but then he will pull up the next week or run badly.

“But now he seems to have matured, he seems to be picking his races wisely, he is not over-racing he knows he is in great shape.

“He dropped out of the European Championships because he knew he was in fantastic shape for the Olympics.

“And I think he could possibly break the 44-second barrier and he might need to run that fast to win.

“But Matt Hudson-Smith is a mature athlete and he is in amazing shape.”

Watch every moment of Olympic Games Paris 2024 live only on discovery+, the streaming home of the Olympics