Hudson-Smith misses out on 400m glory but England win men’s relay

Matthew Hudson-Smith’s dreams of Commonwealth Games glory on his home track were ended by a teenager from Zambia – who stormed from fifth to first to secure a shock 400m title and then had to be carted away on a wheelchair after collapsing.

Remember the name Muzala Samukonga. The 19-year-old looked outpaced in the early stages and coming into the home straight he was 15 metres behind Hudson-Smith. But then came one of the great late surges to secure gold in a PB of 44.66 sec.

Such was his effort that as Samukonga began celebrating with his teammates he was sick at the side of the track. To make matters worse, he then fell to the ground in exhaustion and spent more than 10 minutes on his back while he received medical attention. He still looked in pretty bad condition as he was taken away, but an hour later he had recovered for the medal ceremony.

Meanwhile Hudson-Smith, a recent world championship bronze medallist, admitted he had never heard of his victor after taking silver in 44.81. “I made a commitment to go hard in the first 200m,” he said. “I tired up around the back. You live and you learn. You have just got to push on. But I still got a silver medal.”

Elsewhere on the final morning of track action there was gold for England’s 4x400m team of Jona Efoloko, Zharnel Hughes, Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake and Ojie Edoburun, whose time of 38.35 seconds saw off Trinidad & Tobago and Nigeria, despite a minor baton hiccup due to the noise from the 30,000 crowd.

“I didn’t hear Zharnel,” explained Mitchell-Blake afterwards. “He said he called ‘hand’ three times but it’s deafening out here.”

A few minutes later, England’s Asha Philip, Imani-Lara Lansiquot, Bianca Williams and Daryll Neita won silver in a much tougher contest,