- Home
- Other Sports
- Matt Richards Admits He Has Plenty To Learn After M Disappointment At World Championships
Matt Richards was happy with his “good, honest effort” after he finished eighth in a super-charged 100m freestyle at the World Championships in Singapore.
The Team Wales star had qualified sixth for the final as he bounced back from missing the decider of the 200m free in which he won silver at the Paris Olympic Games in 2024.
The 22-year-old Richards lined up in lane seven with Rio 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers to his right.
With two of the fastest men in history occupying the centre lanes, it was always going to be a huge challenge for Richards to jostle among the medal contenders and he was some way back in eighth at the turn.
However, he reduced the deficit with the fourth-fastest second 50m in the field to stop the clock in 47.74seconds, fifth in his career rankings.
“It was a good, honest effort tonight I think,” he said.
“Marginally slower than last night which is a little bit of a shame. I’d have liked to have moved it on a tiny bit but look, it’s another good outing at a very high level so again plenty to learn from.
“I think those events are moving forward at such a quick rate right now that there’s so much to learn, not only for myself but also from what the other guys are doing.
“So, it’s exciting moving forward to see what we can add to the training and continue to evolve what we’re doing.”
The race was won by David Popovici in 46.51secs, the second-fastest 100m free in history and just 0.11 off the 46.40 world record set by Pan Zhanle en-route to Olympic gold last year.
With victory, the Romanian secured the 100/200 freestyle double and Richards knew he was up against some of the legends of the event.
“I knew those boys were going to be out really quick so I wanted to make sure I didn’t end up falling behind the race,” he said.
“Last night I turned eighth and tonight I wanted to get out a little bit faster and try and hang with the race a bit longer.
“It’s all part of the learning process; I’m still trying to figure out that event.”
Next up is the 4x200m freestyle relay with the prelims getting underway on Friday morning.
Great Britain won their first title 10 years ago where James Guy anchored them home in Kazan, Russia.
READ MORE: Matt Richards Admits British Title Win Was As Tough As Any
Since then, they’ve won a further two world crowns, most recently in Fukuoka two years ago where Richards also won the individual 200 free crown.
Richards also joined Guy, Duncan Scott and Tom Dean in Tokyo where they claimed the Olympic title which they retained in Paris last year.
The quartet will reunite once more in Singapore with Richards looking forward to them setting about reclaiming the title with Great Britain yet to make it on to the medal table in Singapore.
“It’s been a strange year for the whole team: obviously everybody’s trying different things. Some people have had big breaks; other people haven’t so it’s a mixed bag right now.
“But that’s an exciting challenge for all of us - to go into that tomorrow and really get after it and see what we can do.”
READ MORE: Matt Richards Bows Out With Another Near Miss But Vows There Is More To Come In 2028
