'FOUR MORE YEARS AND THEN I'M FINISHED'

HUDSON-SMITH TARGETS GOLDEN SWANSONG

- Malik Ouzia

MATTHEW HUDSON-SMITH has vowed to give himself one more crack at Olympic gold after agonizingly missing out here in the Stade de France last night.

Hudson-Smith went into last night's 400m final as the fastest man in the world this year and favourite to land a first global title, but was denied in the final strides by the fast-finishing American Quincy Hall, who took gold by four-hundredths of a second in a rapid time of 43.40sec.

Both men leaped into the top five on the all-time list, with Hudson-Smith shattering his own European record, but he was ultimately forced to settle for silver again, having also finished second in last year's world final in Budapest.

"I thought I had it," the Briton admitted. "We knew coming in it would come down to the last 50 metres.

When the last 50 came, he was strong and he nicked it. That's it. I'm not angry, I'm not upset. It's life at the end of the day. There will always only be one winner. [Hall] did what he had to do, he came on strong. I can't complain."