LITCHFIELD Max

General
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His gold medal in the 400m individual medley at the 2019 European Short Course Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, was his first senior title in a major international event. He said he was relieved to make the breakthrough, having previously won silver and bronze at the European championships and silver at the world short course championships. "It was a relief, it was nice to finally tick that one off. I never doubted myself. I work incredibly hard in training and when you then turn that into a result it's proof that all that training is worthwhile. It is nice to get that win, to know there's no longer a question about whether you can do it. But at the end of the day, it's all about moving forward, everything is a stepping stone on the road to [the 2020 Olympic Games in] Tokyo." (thestar.co.uk, 16 Dec 2019; SportsDeskOnline, 17 Nov 2020)

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He says he is excited about the prospect of competing at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo alongside his brother Joe and partner Sarah Vasey. "We've joked for years about us [he and Joe] going to an Olympic Games together, so for it to actually happen is pretty amazing. We are competitive and we do argue at times. But we've always got along well and we really help drive each other because we don't want the other one to get ahead. I get to experience it all [Tokyo 2020] with my brother and girlfriend too, that's pretty damn cool." (teamgb.com, 27 Apr 2021; Instagram profile, 27 Apr 2021; countytimes.co.uk, 03 May 2021)