Matt Hudson-Smith won European gold in his home stadium – so why weren’t more fans there to see it?

Economy World


On the day of the men’s 400m final at the European Championships, Matt Hudson-Smith sent a text to the coach who first got him into athletics.

“Enjoy the show,” he told Sharon Morris, promising fireworks as he hunted for a third continental crown. Hudson-Smith, now 31, was only nine when he first stepped onto a track. Morris, a coach with Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham, England, watched on as he ran those first few laps as a junior.

And here he was, all those years later — not just on home soil but at his home stadium — in Birmingham, running one more lap. He duly delivered a golden 400m at the Alexander Stadium, a track where one of the stands is named after him.

It meant replicating the feat he achieved in 2018 and 2022, making Hudson-Smith the first European sprinter with a hat-trick of 400m golds, and the first man to win this event in their own country since Germany’s Ingo Schulz at the 2002 edition in Munich.

Hudson-Smith’s 44.17s winning time was two hundredths outside the championship record of two years ago, and well clear of the other medallists: France’s Muhammad Abdallah Kounta (44.40s, silver) and Jonas Phijffers (44.41s, bronze).

He shot out of the blocks, splitting 10.90s and 20.86s at 100m and 200m, which had him half a second clear at halfway. Those same tactics backfired in the semi-final, when, in Hudson-Smith’s own words, he “switched off,” and Phijffers ran him down on the home straight.

Not in the final. The Briton, an Olympic silver medallist and sixth fastest of all-time at this distance, held his nerve and form in the outside lane. “The whole plan was to get out (fast). I knew when I got to 350m that I had it,” he told reporters in the mixed zone. Even as others came back, the gap was too big to close.

“I sealed, probably my last European championships, in style,” he beamed. “Doing it in my home town, in front of my stand, my friends, family…I’m trying to not cry,” he said, his native Birmingham twang breaking with emotion. “That meant the world. I’ve trained here, I know how to run on this track. It was going to take one hell of an effort for anyone to beat me.”

The one pity? Not enough people came to enjoy the show. Attendance figures on the first two nights (Monday and Tuesday) were around 59 and 70 per cent capacity, and looked similar to the latter on Wednesday evening. The Alexander Stadium holds 23,000 for these championships, boosted by a temporary top tier erected on the Hudson-Smith stand, which follows the far-side bend.

It was there that the European champion ran on his victory lap. It was “automatic,” he said. Hudson-Smith went into the stand and up the stairs to pose next to his name, draped in the British flag, but was surrounded by too many empty seats.

Because, while GB enjoyed a third consecutive night of sprint golds — following Amy Hunt and Romell Glave over 100m — there are fair questions to be asked about spectatorship. The cheapest adult tickets for the first three nights were £26, and the most expensive at £110. Those prices rise at the end of the week, with Keely Hodgkinson versus Audrey Werro promising to be a dynamite 800m final and Mondo Duplantis going in the pole vault.

Birmingham26, the organisers, say that half of their 250,000 tickets — across morning and evening sessions — are £30 or cheaper. They curiously market them as “unbeatable prices,” including a specific £6.31 child’s ticket to watch Duplantis in qualifying on Friday, honouring his world-record height.

Earlier this week a Birmingham26 spokesperson said they were “delighted” with ticket sales, and that they have “far surpassed” their targets. Evening sessions, when medal events take place, are almost sold out for the weekend.

Exactly who can and who should market the event(s) is up for debate. Posters around town are scant, and increasingly athletes view themselves as individual brands. Plenty have YouTube channels showcasing their elite careers, including Hunt and men’s 100m silver-medallist Jeremiah Azu.

It’s something Hudson-Smith touched on in his golden afterglow: “I know I’m not the most vocal on social media, (that) I need to start vocalising my story. You either want to be the best on the track or on social media. It’s very hard to do both.”

Hudson-Smith celebrates a home victory, but the stadium was not full to see it (Michael Steele – British Athletics via Getty Images)

After the medal ceremony, he criticised the BBC, the host broadcaster, for suggesting he picked up an injury during the semi-final. “Everyone’s going to talk,” he said before that to reporters, adding that he found it “hilarious” that anyone thought he was not fit enough to win.

“I probably didn’t help,” he accepted, having walked through the mixed zone without stopping following his semi-final. “I was just trying to get ready for the final.”

Hudson-Smith referenced Noah Lyles, the 100m Olympic champion and 200m world champion. The American is a good friend — he went to Hudson-Smith’s wedding in 2024 — and, alongside Duplantis, is one of the most recognisable and marketable track and field athletes.

“I’m not like Noah,” said Hudson-Smith, pointing out his rare capability to win medals and be prominent on social media. “I’m trying to get there, and I will get there, (to) let my personality show more,” he added, briefly looking to the future before snapping back to reality.

“But have you seen how many 43-(second) runners I’ve got to run against every damn week? Do you know how insane that is? Back in the day, there were only two, now everyone is running it. I’m 31, I’ve got to compete against 22-year-olds running it.”

Hudson-Smith shows off his winner’s medal after Wednesday’s final (Julian Finney/Getty Images)

There are some inherent challenges in track and field too. Last month the U.S. national athletics championships were hosted in New York for the first time in 35 years, and the 5,000-seater Icahn Stadium was not full. Normally those take place on the west coast, in Eugene, Oregon, and inaccessibility problems there limit crowd sizes.

Olympic stadiums in London, Rome, Berlin and Rio de Janeiro all house football teams. The 2029 bid to bring the World Championships back to the British capital — which they last hosted in 2017 — would certainly bring greater fan numbers than Birmingham, but needs agreement with West Ham United, who play at the London Stadium.

Fandom, for most casual spectators, is every four years at worst (Olympics) and every two years at best (World Championships). The London Diamond League sells out 60,000 each year and Jamaica’s school championships always brings tens of thousands to Kingston, the two standout events and current exceptions to the rule.

Track and field needs the likes of Lyles, and it certainly needs athletes like Hudson-Smith to deliver on home soil. As he said, there’s a show to be enjoyed.