Hudson seeing 2024 clearly

One of the dramatic moments of the 19th World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary happened to Andrew Hudson of Jamaica. As he journeyed to his 200 metres semi-finals, the vehicle he was in crashed and glass splintered into his face. Thankfully, he now has a clean bill of health, and now Hudson is focused on the 200m final in next year’s Olympic Games.

The incident made people shudder.

“We saw a cart coming quickly to the left of us and at the last second, I realised it was going to hit us. The front of the golf cart’s windshield, regular glass or plexi grass, splintered everywhere and I got small cuts on my hand, but the main part was the glass hitting my face and into my eyes,” he recounted on Sunday.

The update is far more encouraging.

“I came back to the United States and went to a specialist, and I am blessed that everything checked out and I’m well and fine,” Hudson said.

He ran bravely to fifth place in the semi and was understandably advanced to the final. Hudson feels, with some justification, that he would have made the World final anyway.

“I had a pretty good preliminary. I was in good position for the semi-final round and there was no doubt in my mind, I could have got top two, whatever was required, with Noah Lyles to get to that final,” he underscored.

He finished eighth of the nine men in the final.

Hudson had battled adversity early in the season. A grade-two quadriceps strain put him off track from April to July. Nevertheless, he matched his 2023 winning time of 20.11 seconds to win comfortably.

“With the season I had, with the injury I had, I was going to Trials just to do the best I could, not 100 per cent prepared, but I did feel I could compete at Trials. So, I went out, ran and won the final,” he recalled.

After the World Championships, taking care of his eye was the number one priority, and he jetted back to the United States instead of racing on the Diamond League circuit. Now his target is to prove he is one of the best.

“I still held my top 10 world ranking with only a few 200m races the previous year, so I’m definitely going into 2024 to show I belong with the best 200m runners in the world,” said the sprinter, whose 200m season comprised just four meets.

Hudson is a humble man who doesn’t scream or shout, but he does see himself in the 2024 Olympic 200m final.

“I’m definitely going to have that expectation. I want to put that pressure on myself, where I want to achieve those goals with everybody watching me; first for myself, knowing it wasn’t a fluke I got in, and things like that. So I definitely want to take that crown of being in that final,” he resolved.