'Never give up' - Yorkshire swimmer Max Litchfield seals Olympic return after two-year struggle

At the ripe old age of 29 the likeable lad from Pontefract is heading to a third Olympics this summer after winning the British 400m individual medley trials in a national record time on Thursday night.

It comes less than two months after Litchfield claimed a silver medal at the World Championships in Doha, which after a career headlined by a series of fourth-place finishes in the biggest races of all, was his greatest achievement.

After what he achieved in the London 2012 pool in Stratford this week, he can eclipse that in Paris this summer.

After the personal torment he has suffered the last two years, his could be one of the more uplifting tales of redemption when the best in the world gather at the Paris La Defense Arena in July and August.

Litchfield has not yet divulged the “personal issue” took him to the depths of despair and forced his withdrawal from both the world championships and Commonwealth Games in 2022, but it is clear it prompted a rebirth of his career.

Asked by reporters immediately after his British record time of 4:09:14 in the 400IM, why he was still here, Litchfield replied: “Dedication, perseverance and persistence.

“From the moment two years ago when everything kicked off and I couldn’t be where I wanted to be and do what I wanted to do, I just said to myself I’m going to make the most of every situation I get given, even though that wasn’t what I wanted it to be.

“I knew that when I had the opportunity to get back and swim as fast as I could and be where I wanted to be I had every opportunity to do that.

“I went to Italy and South Africa and trained as hard as I possibly could with some of the best in the world and that’s really paid off and shown that in the past I’ve had setbacks and come back from them but this is the worst one that I’ve had, so to do it the way I’ve done it is awesome.

“I never gave up, there’s a lesson there for everyone, no matter how low you get, no matter how you’re feeling there’s always a way back, and with the support of my family, we managed to do it.”

Litchfield’s family were in attendance in London on Thursday night - “I could hear a million people who have helped me get here,” he beamed - just as they have been throughout a journey that began at Doncaster Dartes, developed at City of Sheffield and continued at Loughborough.

He was a surprise fourth-place finisher on his Olympic debut in Rio, and then fourth again five years later at the delayed Tokyo Games.

Performances the last two months suggest he might be reaching his peak.

“I had to visualise that I’d get back here, and that’s what got me through,” said Litchfield, who also swims the 200m IM on Friday night and the 400m freestyle on Sunday at the British Championships.

“I used swimming as my anchor to stay focused on the bigger picture and what I could be doing in the future, and it’s paid off.

“I sat down on my own before the race to settle myself down, to give myself a raincheck.

“I said to myself ‘look I know I’ve been through a lot of rubbish the last couple of years but if I can come through that and do this tonight’...and thankfully it paid off.

“When I’ve raced the best is when I don’t remember a lot of it, I was a little bit out of body tonight, I did remember a few things. The first 50m I was thinking about my technique and my stroke, then I settled down and went with the flow.

“That’s when your training kicks in, all that hard work in the training environment.”

After this meet, Litchfield will return to training with the sole focus being finally landing an Olympic medal that has forever been tantalisingly out of reach. Given his near-misses, he would be forgiven for thinking he’d settle for a bronze, but in this form, even eclipsing the great Leon Marchand - the 2022 world champion from France who will have the home crowd roaring him on - is within reach.

“The final in Tokyo wasn’t quick, and that happens sometimes, so you just have to go in there with confidence and swim as fast as you can and do your best,” said Litchfield. “If he’s not on it, or I’m not on it, there’s more people in the event than Leon. So I’ll do my own thing.

“To be on top of my form again, to make my third Olympics at 29 years of age is amazing. I couldn’t have asked for more.”

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