{"id":71533,"date":"2026-08-30T11:48:54","date_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:48:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/71533\/"},"modified":"2026-08-30T11:48:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-30T11:48:54","slug":"matt-richards-driven-by-paris-pain-in-pursuit-of-la-2028-gold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/france\/71533\/","title":{"rendered":"Matt Richards Driven by Paris Pain in Pursuit of LA 2028 Gold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\tDouble Olympic Champion Matt Richards Driven by Paris Pain in Pursuit of LA 2028 Gold<\/p>\n

Matt Richards is doing everything in his power to avoid a repeat of his crushing disappointment of Paris 2024 where he missed 200m freestyle gold by 0.02secs.<\/p>\n

Swimming out of lane one as David Popovici, Duncan Scott and Luke Hobson did battle in the centre lanes, Richards was on the brink of becoming the second straight Briton to win the title, three years after Tom Dean in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

But Popovici\u2019s final-50 momentum propelled him into the wall as he became the first Romanian man to win an Olympic title in the pool, 0.02 ahead of Richards in 1:44.72 to 1:44.74 with Hobson third and Scott fourth with the quartet separated by 0.17seds.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Matt Richards: Photo Courtesy: Morgan Harlow, Aquatics GB<\/p>\n

Richards was certain gold had been in his grasp and described missing out by such a tiny margin as \u201cexcruciatingly frustrating.\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on to win an historic gold as the Great Britain 4\u00d7200 free relay squad retained the title they secured in Tokyo.<\/p>\n

It was in Japan three years earlier that Richards came to prominence and since then, he\u2019s amassed an extensive medal haul including the solo 200 free title amid three golds at the 2023 World Championships plus European crowns and Commonwealth medals.<\/p>\n

However, he\u2019d return all the silverware he won in the years between Tokyo and Paris 2024 if it meant he could\u2019ve won individual gold at the latter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to be on the top of the podium in LA,\u201d \u00a0he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want to be second; I don\u2019t want to be third. I don\u2019t want to be off it. I want to be at the top of it.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so, there\u2019s areas that require some trial and error and things that work, things that don\u2019t. And I\u2019d sacrifice every medal I won between Tokyo and Paris to have got gold in Paris rather than silver.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so now it\u2019s about trying to make sure that I don\u2019t have that same feeling again after LA.\u201d<\/p>\n

That would include the world title he won at Fukuoka 2023 where he led Dean home for a British 1-2. \u201cYou can\u2019t do that in sports and how it works. I would never take anything away from myself from what I\u2019ve done in that period. But I think after Paris there was a lot of pieces there that I learned from that I want to take away from and not make the same mistakes again. So that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Paris & Glasgow Reflections<\/p>\n

Richards was speaking at the European Championships in Paris where he won double gold in the men\u2019s and mixed 4x200m freestyle relays.<\/p>\n

However, he finished 16th in the 100m freestyle semis in 48.88, almost 1.5secs off his 47.45 British record, before withdrawing from the 200m.<\/p>\n

He explained: \u201cThe 200 this end of the season has been a little bit tricky for me; it\u2019s just not quite been firing. I put an okay swim together that first 4\u00d7200 on night one but off the back of that, I was hurting and it really stung me for the next couple of days.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Matt Richards: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p>\n

\u201cSo, there\u2019s a couple of bits and pieces there that we need to work on, but we ultimately made the decision to scratch that from this meet and focus on relays.\u201d<\/p>\n

The European Championships followed hot on the heels of the Commonwealth Games where the Team Wales swimmer was second in the 100m freestyle and shared silver over 200m with Team England\u2019s James Guy.<\/p>\n

Richards \u2013 coached by Ryan Livingstone at the Aquatics GB Manchester Performance Centre \u2013 reflected on the back-to-back competitions as \u201cup and down.\u201d While he was happy with his 100m freestyle performances in Scotland, the 200m stung and his Paris relay performance was still some away from where he wants to be.<\/p>\n

The 23-year-old also had to contend with some health issues between Glasgow and Paris on top of not being in peak condition.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019ll always be the first one to try and stay as accountable as I can be but that\u2019s not helped matters,\u201d he said. \u201cBut the fact of the matter is I\u2019m not in the shape that I\u2019d like to be right now, especially on that 200. There\u2019s pieces to the 100 that I need to make better, and we will. But the 200 is the main one where I think there\u2019s a lot of pieces there that we want to work on, that we know we\u2019re going to work on, and just need the time next season to do it now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Recognising \u201cPhenomenal Swimming\u201d<\/p>\n

Richards looked on as Popovici won the100m freestyle where he led a trio of men who made history by all finishing in the 46-second range. The Romanian also won the 200m as he secured the three-peat freestyle double.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

David Popovici: Photo Courtesy: Deepbluemedia<\/p>\n

Leon Marchand became the sixth-fastest 200m freestyle swimmer in history, more than half a second quicker than the Welshman\u2019s PB, when he led off the France relay quartet that won silver behind Great Britain.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to recognise it,\u201d said Richards. \u201cIt\u2019s phenomenal swimming. There\u2019s some really fast swimming going on around the world at the minute, not just in my events but across all of them. It\u2019s exciting for the sport, you know, it\u2019s exciting to be in the mix of that.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd right now I\u2019m not in the shape that I\u2019d like to be where I can be in that race, challenging to be in the finals and winning golds and getting down to those kind of those barriers that are being broken. But I will be when I need to be and that\u2019s what I\u2019m focusing on doing right now.\u201d<\/p>\n

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