World Championships: Tom Dean & Matt Richards Eye British History As Stacked Field Awaits

Tom Dean of Great Britain competes in the Men's Freestyle 200m Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 24th, 2023.

Tom Dean: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

Editorial content for the 2023 World Aquatics Championships is sponsored by FINIS, a longtime partner of Swimming World and leading innovator of suits, goggles and equipment.

World Championships: Tom Dean & Matt Richards Eye British History As Stacked Field Awaits

Tom Dean and Matt Richards will make history if they both finish among the medals in the 200 free at the World Championships in Fukuoka.

Never before have two British men shared the podium at worlds in the event, although Dean and Duncan Scott produced a historic one-two at the Tokyo Olympics.

James Guy is the only British swimmer – male or female – to have won the 200 title, at the 2015 World Championships in Kazan, in a then national mark of 1:45.14 as he also came away with 4×2 gold and 400 silver.

Brian Brinkley won bronze in 1975 with Scott and Dean also on the third step of the rostrum in 2019 and 2022 respectively.

Last year in Budapest, Dean clocked 1:44.98 behind Hwang Sunwoo – in a South Korean record of 1:44.47 – and David Popovici with a then WJR of 1:43.21.

The Briton was visibly taken aback by the Romanian’s effort in Budapest which he lowered weeks later at the European Championships to 1:42.97.

Tom Dean: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini/ Deepbluemedia/Insidefoto

With what was the fourth-swiftest performance all-time in Rome, Popovici became the third-fastest man in history behind Paul Biedermann’s 1:42.00 WR and Michael Phelps (1:42.96).

In Fukuoka, the 18-year-old booked lane four for the final in 1:44.70 ahead of Luke Hobson of the USA who clocked a 1:44.87 PB as he made his first voyage inside 1:45.

Hwang was next in 1:45.07 with Dean (1:45.29) and Richards (1:45.40) booking lanes six and two respectively.

Dean – who claimed a further two relay bronzes in Budapest – believes he’s put himself into exactly the right position for the final between Hobson and Lee Hojoon of South Korea.

He said:

“It’s exactly where you want to be.

“If you can put in a solid swim that’s quick, (and) gets you into some of those middle lanes and there’s more in the tank, what more can you want from a semi-final?

“The first is about blowing away the cobwebs, second is see where you are and now we know that, hit it in the final.”

The 23-year-old would no doubt have been slotted in for the final of the men’s 4×1 free but the British quartet were DQd in an event in which they would at least have been a medal favourite.

He has a busy schedule which could see him compete at the Marine Messe for the remaining six days of the eight-day meet depending on relay selection.

The 200IM prelims and semis are on day four with the final on day five, the 4×2 on day six with the 4×100 mixed free on Saturday and the men’s medley relay on the final day.

The double Olympic champion is relishing it though, saying:

“I can’t wait for that 200 free final. Focus on that, get that done, park it.

“I love it (a busy programme). I did it last year and wasn’t sure how it was going to go.

“I really enjoyed it, got a lot out of it, and it was the same again at Commies so it’s not the first time I’ve done a stacked programme.

“The more races, the more opportunities you have and that’s where the fun comes from so I love it.”

Richards On Track & Into First Global Individual Final

Richards was part of the 4×2 squad that won gold in Tokyo along with Dean, Guy and Scott while also winning a bronze medal at the 2022 worlds having swum the prelims.

Matthew Richards of Great Britain competes in the Men's Freestyle 200m Heats during the 20th World Aquatics Championships at the Marine Messe Hall A in Fukuoka (Japan), July 24th, 2023.

Matt Richards: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto

However, his performances were falling short of previous years and he made a big switch between the World Championships and Commonwealth Games weeks later when he left Bath Performance Centre and moved to Millfield to work with Ryan Livingstone.

The partnership clearly has some alchemy with the 20-year-old becoming the first man to hit a freestyle treble of 21/47/1:44 at the British trials in Sheffield.

There was 21.98 in the 50, 47.72 in the 100 and 1:44.83 in the 200 to do something even the likes of Pieter van den Hoogenband didn’t achieve during his illustrious career.

Back on track and now in his first global individual final, Richards had some nerves after finishing third in the first semi.

He’ll swim from lane two between Hwang and Kieran Smith and said:

“The plan was to make it through the rounds as sensibly as possible, it’s my first time navigating through heats, semis and finals at a world-level meet.

“There’s lots of learning as we go through but definitely feeling very positive about the final.

“There are lots of things we can do better in all sorts of aspects so I’m looking forward to getting after it.”

Name*

Email*

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use