Loughborough athletes were instrumental in the Men’s 4x400m Relay, helping Great Britain to win a stirring bronze medal on the penultimate night of sporting action in Paris.
Current PhD student Alex Haydock-Wilson, alumnus Charlie Dobson, and Loughborough College alumnus Lewis Davey all duly delivered alongside team-mate Matthew Hudson-Smith as the quartet clocked a European record of 2:55.83 to hit the podium.
Haydock-Wilson, who also won bronze in the Mixed 4x400m earlier in the week, ran a storming opening leg in 44.51 seconds before passing the baton to Hudson-Smith (43.09) who handed over to Davey (44.90), before Dobson’s anchor leg (43.33) saw GB over the line and in the medals.
The USA took gold in 2:54.43 with Botswana taking silver in 2:54.53.
After the race, Alex Haydock-Wilson told BBC Sport: “It’s an honour to run out here – the city of love we felt the love tonight. Every single one of us has been preparing for this for a very long time and when we were in the call room we knew exactly what we had to do and it’s a pleasure to deliver for the UK public here today.”
Charlie Dobson said: “The rest of the boys did all the work for me really, I just had to get it round and I did very well with that I think and we secured it. These guys did the hard work and I had to roll with it. It was incredible.”
Tonight’s bronze concluded Loughborough’s Paris haul with an incredible 16 medals – four gold, four silver, and eight bronze.
The university will look to add to its tally with The Paralympic Games starting on 28 August.
For all the latest Loughborough news around major global sporting events, visit the University’s dedicated website here: https://www.lboro.ac.uk/sport/athletes-global-stage/
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Press release reference number: 24/130
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