On his childhood track, in front of a stand named in his honour, hometown hero Matthew Hudson-Smith was not going to be denied.

A full-circle moment, completed by writing his name in history.

More than two decades after stepping foot inside Alexander Stadium for the first time aged nine, Hudson-Smith delivered Great Britain’s latest gold in Birmingham to become the joint-most decorated man of all-time at European Championships.

The 31-year-old celebrated the third European 400m title of his illustrious career by making his way into the crowd and placing a hand on the banner bearing his name.

Moments before, Hudson-Smith had stormed down the home straight, just as he had countless times before as a member of local club Birchfield Harriers.

This time, though, the Olympic and world silver medallist did so to rapturous cheers inside the arena which fostered his love for the sport.

With his eighth podium at the championships, Hudson-Smith equalled French sprinter Christophe Lemaitre’s men’s record medal tally – with the relays still to come.

“Honestly, words can’t describe how much that meant to me,” he told BBC Sport.

“Nobody was going to beat me on this track. This is my home. I know this track like the back of my hand. I have my stand. Now I’m going to go for Mayor of Birmingham and Wolverhampton!

“I knew I was the best in the world. I knew that, on paper, I was a second faster than every single one of these guys. It was about me and the clock.”

It is 12 years since Hudson-Smith won the first of his European Championship medals, claiming 400m silver on his debut in 2014.

Since then he has dealt only in golds in his individual event at this level, alongside two 4x400m relay titles.

With this latest triumph, Hudson-Smith joined British greats Mo Farah and Roger Black on five gold medals, while matching Dina Asher-Smith as the most decorated British athlete in the history of the championships.

It was Great Britain’s third gold of the championships, while Emily Newnham added the hosts’ sixth medal overall with silver in the women’s 400m hurdles final shortly after Hudson-Smith’s victory.

The hosts have further gold medal hopes on Thursday, after newly crowned 100m champion Amy Hunt and Dina Asher-Smith both qualified for the women’s 200m final by winning their heats, while Max Burgin and Ben Pattison will contest the men’s 800m final, and Elise Thorner will bid for steeplechase glory.

Born in Wolverhampton, Hudson-Smith said before the championships that it would “mean the world” to land gold not only home soil, but where he first began working towards his dreams.

With his achievements since those early training sessions recognised in writing on the north stand, to Hudson-Smith’s mind there could be only one possible outcome.

He did not make it easy for himself, however.

Entering the championships as the fastest European this year, the Briton admitted he “misjudged” his semi-final after fading to second place in his heat – an error which meant he had to pursue gold from the outside lane.

Unable to monitor the early progress of his rivals, Hudson-Smith went out hard and had established enough of a gap entering the home straight to reassure the home fans that all was under control.

The European record holder over 400m, and the sixth-fastest man of all time in the one-lap event, missed out on successive global titles by mere fractions of a second at both the World Championships in 2023 and Paris 2024 Olympics.

Those stunning silvers followed the toughest period of his life, but he put three years of “absolute hell” behind him to win world bronze in 2022 as he re-established himself among the world’s best.

On the European stage, there has been no shortage of golden moments – but none will come close to this emotional full-circle moment.

Gold was secured in 44.17 seconds, with Frenchman Muhammad Abdallah Kounta next to cross the line in 44.40.

Speaking on BBC TV, three-time world heptathlon champion Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill said: “What a moment. This will stay with Matthew Hudson-Smith forever.

“It means so much and the pressure was piled on him. Anything but a gold medal here for him would have been a disappointment.”

Hudson-Smith’s celebrations had not long concluded when the 22-year-old Newnham achieved her latest international medal of a sensational season.

Delivering from lane nine, just as Hudson-Smith had done just 20 minutes earlier, she produced a personal best of 53.33 seconds to take silver behind Slovakia’s Emma Zapletalova, who won in 52.91.

In a breakthrough 2025, Newnham won two relay medals as part of the British team at the European Indoor Championships, and double gold – including individual success – at the European Under-23 Championships.

Building on that progress, she lowered both her 400m hurdles and 400m flat personal bests this summer before clinching her first individual senior international medal at the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow 12 days ago.

This latest glimpse of her exciting potential took her closer still to 1992 Olympic champion Sally Gunnell’s British record of 52.74, which has stood for 33 years.