Matthew Hudson-Smith | Three-time European 400m champion

um can we talk to you just quickly about where you think the sport is right now yeah matt so there's also been lots of innovations i mean you were at athlos recently weren't you you've just competed at the ultimate championships

yeah

yeah um and you've done grand slam track of course as well when you're at the ultimates were there some parallels to what they were trying to do in grand slam track

yeah yeah no for sure but i think It was, in my eyes, it was very, very, very organized.

It was good.

Being there at the ultimate, I think, is what we needed as a sport.

They put the social media aspect of it.

We did the red carpet thing.

the red carpet event where you walk down the red carpet, which I've never done before.

I was the dresser and Grania got me looking quite good.

And fair play to Grania because I got some good reviews on people because they're like, yeah, you look all right.

And I was like, it's all good.

You know, even I watched it back on the TV, like the videography and like the social media, the videography and like the whole atmosphere of being there was actually amazing.

And being part of the first inaugural one, obviously, it's good to be came fifth, wanted to win it.

But now overall, it's like it's what the sport needs in the sense of that whole, you know, a feeling like we're professional in a sense because you know, we are a little bit down behind the times in the sense of like, we're not, we're track and field, we are very much a purist sport, but at the same time, we need to move with the times.

So like short form content, we're, as athletes now, we're competing against social media, social media influencers, run club everyday people, this influences the whole.

So, you know, putting ourselves out there, showing what we can do in short form content, because like I said, if I have the, if I have the, the attention span of, of a goldfish and I'm, I struggle watching football and that's like the sport I love, then, you know, four hours of track, it must be horrible for some people, you know what I mean? So condensing it all and like a lot of action all crammed into one is something that, as a sport that we need and, you know, we can just build on it.

That was obviously the first one and it had good reviews from the people who I spoke to and people who have watched it and, you know, just build from there and then from there, you know, they can probably do a Grand Slam series, not a Grand Slam, sorry, Ultimate Series.

Yeah, oh God.

It's fine,

it's fine.

Ultimate Series where they build on it and then, you know, 150 every time they race, or they just like, they just, you know, bring more sponsors, more eyes on the sport, maybe celebrities, you know, different venues and yeah, we just improve as a sport.

And like, I think as a whole, like we're catching up in a sense with Atlas, like a whole, like a all female event, which again, we could say, you know, could be a male and start moaning that oh we need a male you know what about the males but at the end of the day the sport needs like the you know they need someone like a someone to like pioneer it first before we start bringing everybody in involved you know what i mean so if the women you know get paid and then eventually the men can follow then so being you know i've got a daughter some awful women's sports as well because i'll get used to going to sporting events and like i'm i'm probably going to try and get into football you know, hopefully she gets into a football team where I can, or like tennis where I can sit in the stands and start clapping.

But like, you know, like if the, for instance, with at-loss, you know, with the women's sport, they drive it forward and eventually they can bring the men involved.

I'm all for it because at the end of the day, we need, you know, We need eyes on the sport.

um can we talk to you just quickly about where you think the sport is right now yeah matt so there's also been lots of innovations i mean you were at athlos recently weren't you you've just competed at the ultimate championships

yeah

yeah um and you've done grand slam track of course as well when you're at the ultimates were there some parallels to what they were trying to do in grand slam track

yeah yeah no for sure but i think It was, in my eyes, it was very, very, very organized.

It was good.

Being there at the ultimate, I think, is what we needed as a sport.

They put the social media aspect of it.

We did the red carpet thing.

the red carpet event where you walk down the red carpet, which I've never done before.

I was the dresser and Grania got me looking quite good.

And fair play to Grania because I got some good reviews on people because they're like, yeah, you look all right.

And I was like, it's all good.

You know, even I watched it back on the TV, like the videography and like the social media, the videography and like the whole atmosphere of being there was actually amazing.

And being part of the first inaugural one, obviously, it's good to be came fifth, wanted to win it.

But now overall, it's like it's what the sport needs in the sense of that whole, you know, a feeling like we're professional in a sense because you know, we are a little bit down behind the times in the sense of like, we're not, we're track and field, we are very much a purist sport, but at the same time, we need to move with the times.

So like short form content, we're, as athletes now, we're competing against social media, social media influencers, run club everyday people, this influences the whole.

So, you know, putting ourselves out there, showing what we can do in short form content, because like I said, if I have the, if I have the, the attention span of, of a goldfish and I'm, I struggle watching football and that's like the sport I love, then, you know, four hours of track, it must be horrible for some people, you know what I mean? So condensing it all and like a lot of action all crammed into one is something that, as a sport that we need and, you know, we can just build on it.

That was obviously the first one and it had good reviews from the people who I spoke to and people who have watched it and, you know, just build from there and then from there, you know, they can probably do a Grand Slam series, not a Grand Slam, sorry, Ultimate Series.

Yeah, oh God.

It's fine,

it's fine.

Ultimate Series where they build on it and then, you know, 150 every time they race, or they just like, they just, you know, bring more sponsors, more eyes on the sport, maybe celebrities, you know, different venues and yeah, we just improve as a sport.

And like, I think as a whole, like we're catching up in a sense with Atlas, like a whole, like a all female event, which again, we could say, you know, could be a male and start moaning that oh we need a male you know what about the males but at the end of the day the sport needs like the you know they need someone like a someone to like pioneer it first before we start bringing everybody in involved you know what i mean so if the women you know get paid and then eventually the men can follow then so being you know i've got a daughter some awful women's sports as well because i'll get used to going to sporting events and like i'm i'm probably going to try and get into football you know, hopefully she gets into a football team where I can, or like tennis where I can sit in the stands and start clapping.

But like, you know, like if the, for instance, with at-loss, you know, with the women's sport, they drive it forward and eventually they can bring the men involved.

I'm all for it because at the end of the day, we need, you know, We need eyes on the sport.