2024 AQUATICS GB SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS (OLYMPIC TRIALS)
- Tuesday, April 2nd – Sunday, April 7th
- Prelims at 10 am local (5 am EDT), Finals at 7 pm local (2 pm EDT)
- London Aquatics Centre
- LCM (50m)
- British Swimming Olympic Selection Policy
- Meet Central
- SwimSwam Preview
- Entries
- Results
- Livestream: Channel 4 Youtube coverage
- Day 1 Live Recap
- Day 2 Live Recap
We entered day three of these Aquatics GB Olympic Trials knowing that Max Litchfield was the man to beat in the 400mIM.
But the 29-year-old Olympic finalist did us one better, firing off a new British record en route to taking the gold tonight.
After handily leading the field out of the heats with an AM swim of 4:15.07, Litchfield unleashed a result of 4:09.14, his best-ever to qualify for the 2024 Olympic Games.
The next-closest swimmer was Charlie Hutchison who clocked 4:15.72 while George Smith rounded out the podium in 4:17.31.
Litchfield’s time tonight not only beat his own previous personal best of 4:09.62 from the 2017 World Championships, but it also overtook Duncan Scott‘s national record of 4:09.18. Scott’s mark was established at the 2022 British Swimming Championships.
Two-time Olympian Litchfield is coming off a successful 4IM performance in Doha where he notched an effort of 4:10.40 as the runner-up behind winner Lewis Clareburt (4:09.72) of New Zealand. The competition represented Litchfield’s return to the Aquatics GB fold after having not represented the nation since the Tokyo Olympic Games.
On deck after the race tonight, Litchfield commented, “This feels pretty amazing. I knew I was in good form this year and I felt good this morning. This is just the 2nd time I’ve been sub-4:10…it’s really exciting.”
Comparing the splits between Litchfield’s & Scott’s swims reveals that Litchfield played to his fly and breast strengths
| Litchfield’s New 4:09.14 British Record | Scott’s Previous 4:09.18 British Record | Litchfield’s Previous 4:09.62 PB |
| 56.46 | 56.77 | 56.33 |
| 1:03.76 | 1:03.20 | 1:03.33 |
| 1:10.71 | 1:11.95 | 1:11.24 |
| 58.21 | 57.26 | 58.72 |
Litchfield now ranks #1 in the world on the season, dethroning Italy’s Alberto Razzetti who wore the crown with his national record-setting 4:09.29 from last fall.
2023-2024 LCM Men 400 IM
LITCHFIELD
4:09.14
| 2 | Alberto RAZZETTI | ITA | 4:09.29 | 11/30 |
| 3 | Ilya BORODIN | RUS | 4:09.59 | 04/18 |
| 4 | Lewis CLAREBURT | NZL | 4:09.72 | 02/18 |
| 5 | Tomoru HONDA | JPN | 4:09.98 | 11/30 |
Is it just me, or does his ‘fly look really uncomfortable? It is obviously effective, but the timing looks so odd.
Quality. PB after 7 years and a British Record.
Did we ever find out why he was suspended for so long? Was it a SafeSport-type issue?
I was wondering the same.
I wondered that too, but given literally every British swimmer seems to be really friendly with him and happy about his performance I imagine the issue wasn’t that bad in the first place. Still annoying they kept it quiet, I suppose we’ll never know.