Yorkshire's Max Litchfield proves true to his word as he comes back after Olympic heartbreak

Underneath the scaffolding that held up the grandstand at the La Defense Arena in Paris in late July, Pontefract’s Max Litchfield faced the media with tears in his eyes after finishing fourth in an Olympic final for the third Games in a row.

Just minutes earlier, he had turned towards the final leg of the 400m individual medley in second place, that elusive first Olympic medal within sight.

But as the French crowd roared home favourite Leon Marchand down the finishing straight, Litchfield was passed by two swimmers to touch the line in fourth place, just as he had done in Rio and in Tokyo.

Clearly devastated, Litchfield was still processing the result and how he can have come so close again.

At 29, what did his future hold? Were his best years now behind him? His best opportunity, gone?

Admirably, the former Doncaster Dartes and City of Sheffield swimmer puffed out his chest and defiantly said: “It’s not the end for me.

“I’ll have a few weeks off, reflect and refresh and hopefully my body can pull out four more years.

“We’ll reflect and come back stronger. I’m not stopping.”

And Litchfield has been true to his word.

For this week he is back competing in an international pool, one of 10 British swimmers contesting the World Short Course Championships in Budapest.

He began his championships in the 200m individual medley heats on Tuesday morning.

Litchfield will also swim the 400m IM, which he is a former European gold and world silver medallist in over the 25m pool, and the 200m and 400m freestyle in a busy programme at a championships that run until Sunday.

A medal in Budapest would finish off the year nicely for Litchfield, who despite the agony of fourth in Paris has still had a strong 2024, winning his first world championship medal in the long-course pool in Doha back in February and then setting a British record in winning the national 400m IM title in April.

The fact he then lowered his own British record in Paris, just further emphasises that even though he was beaten to the medals, there was little more he could have done.

Litchfield has a little rust to shake off, missing out on a place in the final of the 200m IM on the first morning of the championships in Budapest by 12 100ths of a second, but at least he is back.

He has not yet publicly declared that he is swimming onto the Los Angeles Olympics, this week being the first step on that road, with the next key marker being next July’s World Aquatics Championships in Singapore.

Aquatics GB’s new head coach Steven Tigg explained how the high-level competition, racing exposure and process of getting through the rounds at World Short Course can help the athletes involved at this stage of the season.

"We are really looking forward to bringing this team together and getting some valuable early-season racing under the belt as we begin a fresh Olympic cycle towards LA - with the first major focus being about building towards next summer's World Aquatics Championships in Singapore,” he said.

“The World Short Course Championships are always an enjoyable and insightful competition opportunity, which provide swimmers a chance to fine-tune technical skills and routines in the high-performance arena.”

Rising talent Amelie Blocksidge was also in action on the first day of competition at the Duna Arena in the 400m freestyle heats, and she and Litchfield were joined in competition by Eva Okaro (women's 50m butterfly), Abbie Wood (Women's 200m individual medley), Oliver Morgan (men's 100m backstroke), Jacob Peters (men's 50m butterfly).

Olympic silver medallist and 2021 World Short Course 50m Freestyle champion Ben Proud withdrew last week.