Hometown hero Matthew Hudson-Smith stormed to 400m gold at the European Athletics Championships in Birmingham to make it a hat-trick of career individual continental titles.The 31-year-old from Wolverhampton, assigned lane nine, got out to an early lead he never relinquished despite efforts to reel him in, holding off his challengers to cross the line in 44.17 seconds.The only dampener on the Olympic silver medallists achievement were the empty seats in the stadium, nowhere near capacity, including the temporary stand named after the European record-holder – who grew up on the track competing for Birchfield Harriers.Muhammad Abdallah Kounta of France took silver in 44.40s and Jonas Phijffers of the Netherlands rounded out the podium in a national record 44.41s.Hudson-Smith joined the fans to celebrate his gold medal (Martin Rickett/PA) (PA Wire)It was Hudson-Smith’s fifth gold at a European championships, including relays, taking him to eight medals overall.That equals the men’s record at the Europeans alongside France’s Christophe Lemaitre, but Hudson-Smith has one more gold to his name.There were worries about Hudson-Smith’s fitness for this final after he was overtaken by Phijffers in his semi-final but he later confirmed it had been a tactical error, not a fitness issue, after underestimating what the Dutchman had left in the tank.He saved his best for the final, reacting quickly off the block before building a commanding lead along the back straight en route to more European glory.