Max Litchfield Downs British 400 IM Record In Silver Medal Performance

2016 SHORT COURSE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

• December 6th – December 11th, 2016
• Windsor, Ontario, Canada
• WFCU Centre
• SCM (25m)
• Prelims: 9:30 AM EST/Finals: 6:30 PM EST
• Start Lists/Results
• Live Stream ($)

Great Britain’s Max Litchfield used a strong freestyle leg to claim the silver medal in the men’s 400 IM, setting a new British Record in the process. After posting the fastest time in 4:03.56 this morning out of one of the earlier heats, Litchfield went 4:00.66 tonight to break Joe Roebuck‘s mark of 4:01.63 set all the way back in 2009 at the European Championships.

Two-time defending champion Daiya Seto of Japan led throughout, winning in a time of 3:59.24. American Josh Prenot and Hungarian David Verraszto jockeyed for the second spot throughout the race, but Litchfield passed both of them on the final 50 brining it home in 27.05, the fastest last 50 in the field. He also had the fastest freestyle leg overall in the field at 55.32. Verraszto won bronze in 4:01.56, while Prenot settled for 4th in 4:01.94.

Litchfield swam the 400 free on day 1 of the competition, placing 13th in 3:42.98. He is also slated to swim the 200 backstroke tomorrow on the final day. He burst onto the scene this past summer, finishing 4th at the Olympics in this event as a relative unknown.