Matt Richards

Matt Richards reckons his biggest successes come when he stops overthinking and “races like I did when I was a little kid”.

Olympic champion Matt Richards may have tasted bitter disappointment in both his 200m and 100m freestyle events at the World Championships, but he delivered in the relay.

Olympic champion Matt Richards may have tasted bitter disappointment in both his 200m and 100m freestyle events at the World Championships, but he delivered in the relay.

He was Olympic silver medalist at 200m in Paris last year, but Matt Richards was a long way off the medals at the World Championships in his two individual events, as Liz Byrnes reports from Singapore

Welsh Olympic champion Matt Richards is also the best of British again, but has reflected on a difficult title win.

Welsh athletes have returned home, having made a remarkable impression at the Paris 2024 Olympics, achieving their best performance to date. A record 33 Welsh competitors, including 19 Olympic debutants, represented Team GB, bringing home a total of 13 medals—three gold, three silver, and seven bronze.

Matt Richards finished his stint at the Paris Olympics by missing out on another medal, but happy with his tally of silver and gold and looking forward to 2028. The Welsh swimmer was part of the Great Britain men’s 4×100 metres medley relay squad that finished just off the podium in fourth place.

Matt Richards is already Wales’ greatest swimmer and he might yet become the country’s most celebrated Olympian. He’s 21 years old – not that you would guess watching his TV interviews from Paris, where his maturity and level-headedness is as clear and bright as his talent.

Matt Richards had hardly had his latest, second, gold medal hung around his neck before Wales’ greatest swimmer in history was talking about a third. Richards, James Guy, Tom Dean and Duncan Scott retained their men’s 4×200 metres freestyle relay title to give Team GB their first Olympic gold of the Paris Games in the pool.

Matt Richards was as graceful in accepting a silver medal as he was thunderous through the water as he became the first Welsh athlete to win a medal at the Paris Olympic Games. Richards – widely recognised as the top prospect for Welsh gold – fell agonisingly short of that goal as he finished second in the final of the men’s 200m freestyle.

Matt Richards is embracing the weight of expectation at the Olympics as he insisted his mindset heading into Paris gives him an almost “invincible” aura. At the delayed Tokyo Games in 2021, Wales’ Commonwealth Games star, then only 18, was the junior swimmer alongside Tom Dean, James Guy and Duncan Scott as they captured gold for Team GB in the men’s 4×200 metres freestyle relay.

Faster. Higher. Stronger. The Olympic motto used to be unchanging and did its job well enough from its introduction back in 1894. That was until 2021 when the organisers/modernisers/do-gooders/diversity officers/woke police (insert depending on political outlook) decided on an upgrade.