Matt Hudson-Smith eases into 400m final at World Championships

Matt Hudson-Smith cruised into the 400m final at the World Championships and declared he is ready to win.

The European champion ran 44.38 seconds in the first semi-final at Hayward Field on Wednesday evening.

Hudson-Smith finished behind the USA’s Michael Norman in his race and qualified second-fastest for Friday’s final in Eugene.

“I can win this. I’ll get ready for the final. I had something left but I messed up big time on the last 50m, big time,” said the 27-year-old, who set the British record of 44.35 seconds on the same track in May.

“I just went long, I started striding long and it broke my speed, just like doing the chicken dance – that’s what we call it.

“It was a good 350m, I went long, I looked to my right and felt Norman, so I went long and he capitalised on that. He got the victory because of that.

“If I correct those two things, I’m on my way through.”

Alex Haydock-Wilson’s personal best of 45.08 seconds was not good enough to qualify.

In the evening’s only final in Oregon, Aimee Pratt came seventh in the 3,000m steeplechase – which was won by Norah Jeruto of Kazakhstan – in a British record of nine minutes 15.64 seconds.

Max Burgin, the fastest man in the world over 800m, had to pull out of the event after suffering a calf injury.

Dan Rowden and Kyle Langford, who finished fourth at London 2017, made it through to the semi-final.

Langford said: “It’s been amazing. Laura (Muir) winning a medal gave the team a boost and then Jake (Wightman) winning just sparked us – we were all cheering watching in the lounge, crying, tearing up.

“For me it really lit a spark up and I wasn’t really too bothered for the whole week and even yesterday, right up until Jake’s race. Then I after it I felt ‘OK, I’m excited to go