The 31-year-old, who had won the one-lap race at European championships in Berlin 2018 and Munich in 2022, said "nobody was going to beat me on this track".Hudson-Smith, born in neighbouring Wolverhampton in England's West Midlands, even had a temporary stand at the Alexander Stadium for these championships named after him.It was a fifth European gold for Hudson-Smith, taking him level with 400m runner Roger Black and distance great Mo Farah. He is just one behind Dina Asher-Smith in terms of British athletes.Setting off quickly, the Briton had the 14,000-strong crowd on their feet as he clocked 44.17 seconds for victory, 0.23sec ahead of France's Muhammad Abdallah Kounta, who is coached by British sprint legend Linford Christie.Dutch athlete Jonas Phijffers took bronze in a national record of 44.41."My coach told me 'This is your home -- defend it'. I knew that for them to beat me they have to have a super special moment," said Hudson-Smith."Nobody was going to beat me on this track. This is my home. I have been here since nine."There were three other medal events in an entertaining evening session.Switzerland's Jason Joseph won the 110m hurdles in 13.12 seconds in the final event, eliciting a sustained peal of cowbell ringing from a large Swiss contingent in the crowd.France's Just Kwaou-Mathey took silver in 13.16sec and Poland's Jakub Szymanski bronze (13.26).Zapletalova fills Bol's shoes