Charlie Dobson proud of Olympic showing despite missing out on 400m final

By Paul Martin at Stade de France

A proud Charlie Dobson felt there was no more he could have done to make an Olympic final on debut as he reflected on an ‘incredible experience’ in Paris.

Dobson finished fourth in his semi-final, clocking 44.48s, not enough to see him through to Wednesday night’s showpiece as one of the fastest qualifiers.

The Colchester ace arrived with high expectations, with a European silver among his eye-catching displays in 2024, but insists he will return from the French capital with his head held high.

“It went as well as I could have done,” he said. “It wasn’t the result I wanted but it’s the result I got.

“I went out and gave it everything, so I can’t not be proud of myself.

“I need to go away and have a think about what happened. I executed the race differently to previous ones.

“I had to – it’s the Olympic semi-finals, there’s no messing about here, I had to go for it. It didn’t pay off in the end but I’ll learn from it.”

Dobson has announced himself as a force to be reckoned with in recent months. He knocked half a second off his PB in May and since gone quicker again in Rome for his European medal and at the London Athletics Meet, when he clocked 44.23s.

He started strongly in front of a packed out Stade de France in his semi but faded down the stretch as world bronze medallist Quincy Hall and Trinidadian Jereem Richards booked their places in the showpiece, with Dobson 0.15 seconds away from qualification.

“It wasn’t quicker than I thought,” added Dobson, one of over 1,000 elite athletes on UK Sport’s National Lottery-funded World Class Programme.

“I knew it was going to be a hard race, which is why I went out hard – I think I went out harder than I’ve ever done before.

“It was a new way of running it so I was just getting used to that.

“The whole experience has been incredible, I’ve loved every second of it. The whole environment is like nothing I’ve ever been through before. It has been a massive learning curve but we got through it.

“No one said it was going to be easy, it's the Olympics.

"I'm over the moon with how this season has gone. Although it's not currently gone the way I want it to go, I can't complain."

National Lottery players raise more than £30million a week for Good Causes including vital funding into sport – from grassroots to elite. To find out more visit: www.lotterygoodcauses.org.uk