British 400m champion on switching focus and elevating his personal ranges of ambition
By early September, Charlie Dobson had run 10 particular person races throughout the 12 months, all around the similar distance of 400m. It had been a season like no different – not simply because it yielded an Olympic relay bronze, European particular person silver and first British title, however that every one of these accolades had come over the quarter-mile.
For many of Dobson’s profession he had thought-about himself to be primarily a 200m runner. So, on the finish of his first 12 months focusing fully on double that distance, he thought he may take a look at himself again over the shorter dash to see if a sequence of 400m private bests would translate when dropping down.
Dobson, 25, pencilled himself in for a low-key, season-ending 200m race however, earlier than committing, his supervisor messaged the organisers of the Diamond League remaining in Brussels to double-check that he was not wanted.
Dobson had competed in three Diamond League races throughout the summer time, incomes ample factors to put him tenth within the standings. With the Belgian hosts permitted so as to add a house nation athlete, it meant he required three athletes to drop out if he was to be given a spot within the eight-lane remaining. Unlikely, however price posing the query.
Charlie Dobson (Getty)
The reply that got here again was unexpectedly optimistic, however with plans altered in favour of a visit to Belgium there was one other hurdle to beat. When the beginning listing was unveiled the day earlier than the race, Dobson had been allotted the unappetising, tight, inside lane one, whereas the considerably slower residence addition of Jonathan Sacoor was in lane seven.
Negotiations befell, the 2 males have been belatedly switched a few hours earlier than the meet and Dobson was capable of produce essentially the most dramatic of late expenses, surging residence from seventh place when coming into the ending straight to assert the unlikeliest of Diamond League titles. It was the “greatest shock of the night time”, based on surprised commentator Tim Hutchings.
“It was a shock to me, 100 per cent,” says Dobson. “You go into each race with full confidence in your self, however it’s a must to set your self life like objectives.
“I’d initially thought I’d be blissful if I got here within the prime 5. Attending to 250m I’d run my very own race and folks weren’t as far forward of me as in earlier races. I got here off the bend and noticed they have been solely 5 or 10 metres forward so I believed I’d have the ability to chase them down. I gave it each single little bit of power I had and shocked myself. The lane change made the world of distinction.”
Charlie Dobson (Chiara Montesano)
It was a efficiency that ought to have important repercussions for a profession that has flickered regularly with glimpses of Dobson’s expertise over a outstanding vary of distances. Solely final 12 months, he gained a World Indoor Tour 60m race in Birmingham, whereas he earned world under-20 silver over 200m and completed fourth over that very same distance on the 2022 European Championships.
Within the 5 400m races he had run previous to this 12 months, he had by no means gone slower than 56 seconds. It was this potential that led Iwan Thomas to inform AW two years in the past that his 400m British report of 44.36 was Dobson’s “if he needs it”.
At that time, Dobson nonetheless thought-about himself a 200m runner, now admitting: “I by no means thought I’d 100 per cent transfer as much as the 400m.” A sequence of accidents meant a change to that mindset, with 200m coaching “not working persistently sufficient for me to hold on having fun with the game”.
When his former coach Benke Blomkvist returned to his native Sweden, Dobson sought out the providers of Leon Baptiste final autumn, and determined to channel his total power into the 400m. “I simply needed to lastly take pleasure in a full season of athletics once more,” he explains.
The end result was a primary injury-free 12 months, which Dobson ascribes to a mix of adjusting coach, altering the depth of his coaching for the longer distance and ending college: “I can come again from coaching and simply chill and get well correctly moderately than having to sit down at a desk.”
The European silver from June got here in a private greatest 44.38, which he then improved a number of weeks later when clocking 44.23 on the London Diamond League. That efficiency proved Thomas appropriate, however didn’t legislate for the excellent occasions produced by Matt Hudson-Smith, who went under 44 seconds on three events in 2024, together with the run that took him to Olympic silver.
Charlie Dobson (Getty)
“It’s nice enjoyable, however on the similar time actually annoying,” says a smiling Dobson, when requested about having Hudson-Smith as a compatriot. “Personally, I’d have favored to have a crack on the British report. Now Matt has lowered it by virtually a second, which is unimaginable however irritating.
“However it’s wonderful to have him as a British athlete and extremely inspiring. He’s an incredible man and is absolutely invested within the relay squad, which implies quite a bit to all of the boys.”
The lads’s 4x400m Olympic bronze was certainly one of 5 relay medals gained by the British staff on the Paris Olympics, together with bronzes within the girls’s and combined 4x400m. That, says Dobson, is in no small half all the way down to Hudson-Smith.
“We’ve bought such a powerful squad now,” he says. “We’ve medalled at each main championship since Europeans in 2022, and lengthy might it proceed.
“British males’s 400m working did undergo a little bit of a lull and lots of people had written it off, however Matt having his unimaginable comeback and profitable a medal in Eugene [2022 World Championships] spearheaded the resurgence of British 400m working. It definitely impressed me to choose up the 400m and dedicate extra time to the relay, and I’m positive it did with others.
“We’re beginning to develop some actually good depth, so we have now the power to swap out individuals as and once we want, and nonetheless be extremely robust. That was confirmed on the Olympics.”
» That is an abridged model of a characteristic that seems within the November concern of AW journal, Subscribe to AW journal right here, try our new podcast right here or signal as much as our digital archive of again points from 1945 to the current day right here
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