Charlie Dobson (born 20 October 1999) is a British sprinter, specialising in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

and the 4 x 400 metres relay. An Olympic bronze medalist and European champion in the relay, Dobson made his senior indivudual breakthrough in 2024; he won a silver medal in the 400 metres at the

2024 European Athletics Championships The 26th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 to 12 June 2024 at the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy. It was the third time Italy staged this sporting event after the inaugural 1934 European Athletics Championships, 1934 edition in T ...

, and won the 400 metres event at the

2024 British Athletics Championships The 2024 British Athletics Championships (sponsored by Microplus Timing) is the national championships in outdoor track and field for athletes in the United Kingdom, which also served as a qualifying event for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The even ...

. He was the surprise winner in the 400 metres final of the

2024 Diamond League The 2024 Diamond League was the fifteenth season of the annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by World Athletics. The competition was a revision to the top level athletics series since Diamond League foundation in 2010. Th ...

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

Personal life

Dobson is from

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in northeastern Essex, England. It is the second-largest settlement in the county, with a population of 130,245 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 Census. The demonym is ''Colcestrian''. Colchester occupies the ...

Essex Essex ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East of England, and one of the home counties. It is bordered by Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, the North Sea to the east, Kent across the Thames Estuary to the ...

, England. He studied at

St Benedict's Catholic College St Benedict's Catholic College is a coeducational secondary school in Colchester, Essex, England. As the only remaining Catholic secondary school in Colchester, it is one of the top performing non-selective state schools in Colchester. History ...

and Colchester Sixth Form College. As of 2022, he was a student of

aeronautical engineering Aerospace engineering is the primary field of engineering concerned with the development of aircraft and spacecraft. It has two major and overlapping branches: aeronautical engineering and astronautical engineering. Avionics engineering is s ...

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

Career

Dobson competes for Colchester Harriers Athletics Club. He won his first international competition, which was the Loughborough International meeting. He came second in the 200 metres event at the

2018 IAAF World U20 Championships The 2018 World Athletics U20 Championships, World U20 Championships in Athletics, also known as the World Junior Championships, was an international athletics competition for athletes qualifying as juniors (born no earlier than 1 January 1999) ...

, finishing behind teammate Jona Efoloko. Dobson had set

personal best A personal record, or a personal best (abbreviated to PB), is an individual's best performance in a given sporting discipline. It is most commonly found in athletic sports, such as track and field, other forms of running, swimming and weightlifting ...

times in the heat and semi-finals of the competition. In 2020, Dobson set the British Universities & Colleges Sport record for the 60 metres event. In 2021, Dobson ran the 400 metres event once. His finishing time was the joint fastest by a Briton that year, tied with

Matthew Hudson-Smith Matthew Hudson-Smith (born 26 October 1994) is a British track and field sprinter who specialises in the 400 metres and is the 5th fastest athlete of all-time over the distance. In September 2024 he was ranked as the number one 400 m runner in ...

. He was selected in the British team for the

2021 World Athletics Relays The 2021 World Athletics Relays have been held in Chorzów, Poland from 1 to 2 May 2021. Schedule Winners summary There are no medalists but winners in each event. Men Women Mixed Winners positions As the World Athletics ...

, but injured himself prior to the event. The injury also prevented him from attempting to qualify for the delayed

2020 Summer Olympics The officially the and officially branded as were an international multi-sport event that was held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some of the preliminary sporting events beginning on 21 July 2021. Tokyo ...

; he had been hoping to make the British 4 x 400 metres team at the Games. He spent 10 months out with injury before returning in February 2022 at the Loughborough Indoor Open. In April 2022, Dobson ran a 200 metres event in 20.19, the 11th fastest time by a Briton in history. Later in the year, he ran a wind-assisted 19.99 seconds to beat

Nethaneel Mitchell-Blake Nethaneel Joseph Mitchell-Blake (born 2 April 1994, London) is a British sprinter who specialises in the 200 metres and the 4 × 100 metre relay. He was the 2013 European Junior Champion and his personal best of 19.95 seconds ranks him as the s ...

. He was part of the British team that won the relay at the

2022 European Athletics Championships The 2022 European Athletics Championships were the 25th edition of the European Athletics Championships and were held in Munich, Germany, from 15 to 21 August 2022. They were part of the 2022 European Championships, European Championships, a multi ...

, alongside Matthew Hudson-Smith, Alex Haydock-Wilson and Lewis Davey. It was his first major relay. Dobson also finished fourth in the individual 200 metres event. Dobson set a new personal best of 44.38s to win a silver medal in the 400 metres at the

in Rome, Italy, on 10 June 2024. Later that month he won his first national 400 metres title at the

to secure a place at the Paris Olympics where he went out in the semi-finals of the individual event before claiming a bronze medal as part of the Great Britain 4x400 metre relay team. Dobson won the 400 metres at the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final examination or finals, a test given at the end of a course of study or training *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which d ...

in Brussels, Belgium, in a time of 44.49 seconds.

References

External links

* * * * * *
Charlie Dobson
at the

Paris 2024 Summer Olympics The 2024 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXIII Olympiad () and branded as Paris 2024, were an international multi-sport event held in France from 26 July to 11 August 2024, with several events started from 24 July. P ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dobson, Charlie 1999 births Living people English male sprinters British male sprinters European Athletics Championships winners Alumni of Loughborough University Sportspeople from Colchester 21st-century English sportsmen World Athletics Championships medalists Athletes (track and field) at the 2024 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2024 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic athletes for Great Britain British Diamond League winners