Wolverhampton's Matthew Hudson-Smith looking good

The Wolverhampton runner’s progress to the 400 metre final at Paris 2024 has been such a cruise he completed the final 50m of Tuesday’s semi-final at near walking pace and still matched his second quickest ever time of 44.07 seconds.

There is surely more to come and Wednesday night at the Stade de France is when it really matters, as he seeks to become Britain’s first male 400m Olympic champion since Eric Liddell in this same city 100 years ago. The race is scheduled for 8.20pm UK time. Miss it if you dare.

So focused is Hudson-Smith, he might have negotiated the post-race media requirements quicker than it took him to cover those final 50m.

He stopped for no one, TV, radio or newspapers, meeting any requests with a polite shake of the head while holding the index finger of his right hand in the air.

Number one, or one more to go? It was impossible to know. Either way, he is every bit the man on a mission.

Hudson-Smith’s time was actually only the fourth quickest across the three semi-finals. Both Quincy Hall of the USA and Grenada’s Kirani James, winner of gold, silver and bronze - in that order - at the last three Games, both broke 44 seconds. So did Botswana’s Muzala Samukonga in finishing second to the latter to book his place in tonight’s showpiece.

Yet it was the man from Wolves who looked firmly in control. Entering the home straight with a lead of more than 10 metres, his gaze was fixed on the big screen as he eased off the gas to the extent America’s Michael Norman might just have started to believe he could catch him. At the line the gap was still two-tenths of a second.

While Hudson-Smith strolled into the final, there was disappointment for team-mate Charlie Dobson who finished fourth in the opening heat and was only 11th quickest overall.

The 24-year-old is so highly-rated, former European champion Iwan Thomas predicted he would medal in Paris. That always looked a little bold, yet Dobson remained upbeat in defeat.

“I went as well as I could,” he said. “There isn’t a lot more I could have done. I gave it everything.”

Hudson-Smith’s night might have been drama free but the same could not be said for GB team-mate Josh Kerr, who took silver in the 1,500m final albeit in somewhat bittersweet fashion.

The race always promised to be the tastiest event of the evening due to the rivalry between Kerr and defending champion Jakob Ingebrigtsen.

What no-one had banked on, in a race billed as a straight fight between the pair, was American Cole Hocker spoiling the party for both by snatching an improbable gold.

Ingebrigtsen, whose dismissive attitude towards Kerr has long piqued the GB captain's ire, hit the front early and was still leading as the race entered the final lap.

But he had not fully shaken Kerr and there was a nervous look over the shoulder from the Norwegian down the back straight as his rival closed the gap.

Heading into the home straight, the race seemed to be Kerr’s but Hocker was suddenly there on his shoulder, overtaking him in the final 20 metres. Kerr just held off the fast finishing Yared Nuguse of the USA to take silver. Ingebrigtsen ended up with nothing but from Kerr’s perspective, despite beating his rival and setting a new British record, it all felt just slightly flat.

There was late disappointment for GB as both Dina Asher-Smith and Daryll Neita missed out on medals in the women’s 200 metre final.

The pair finished fourth and fifth respectively, with Brittany Brown of the USA taking bronze in a photo finish.

Fellow American Gabrielle Thomas claimed the victory, while St Lucia’s Julien Alfred backed up her 100m gold by taking silver.