Athletics-Hudson-Smith hobbles through to 400m semis in Tokyo

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By Mitch Phillips

TOKYO (Reuters) – Britain’s world and Olympic 400 metres silver medallist Matthew Hudson-Smith scraped into the semi-finals at the world championships on Sunday but said he felt flat and struggled with a hip problem as he finished fourth in his heat.

Hudson-Smith, ranked fourth in the world this year and a strong medal hope, looked uncomfortable as soon as he left the blocks in the second heat.

Despite seeming to be favouring one leg in a strangely unbalanced run, he was still in good shape coming into the final straight but faded to finish fourth, with only the first three automatically advancing to the semi-finals.

He fell to the floor after crossing the line and looked very tentative as he left the track.

“It felt flat and my hips are a bit iffy,” Hudson-Smith explained.

“I was running and I felt ‘oh no my hips don’t feel good’. I got through it but it hurt man. I don’t know, I really don’t know, I literally had nothing. It’s weird.”

His time of 44.68 seconds proved enough to go through as one of the six “fastest losers” but he would need to make a quick recovery to be in shape for the semi-finals on Tuesday.

In the injury-absence of American Olympic champion Quincy Hall, the 400 metres looks to be one of the most open races of the championships.

Jacory Patterson of the United States was the fastest qualifier with a scorching 43.90 seconds while home favourite Joseph Nakajima raised a huge cheer when he posted a Japanese national record 44.44 seconds to go through.

“Today was about getting the jitters out,” said Patterson. “That was a clean, comfortable run for me. It means a lot to carry the USA tradition in the 400m. They set the foundation for us. I am just excited.”

(Reporting by Mitch Phillips, editing by Clare Fallon)