In 2021, Matt Richards became an Olympic champion. He had reached the pinnacle of his sport – at just 18 years and 223 days old.
Richards swam the third leg of Great Britain’s dominant performance in the men’s 4x200m freestyle relay final.
In Wales the news was seismic. The nation’s youngest Olympic champion in history and the first Welsh gold medallist in swimming (alongside Calum Jarvis) in more than a century.
But with team-mates Tom Dean and Duncan Scott also winning a remarkable gold and silver in the individual 200m freestyle final, his achievement went – understandably – a little under the radar.
At his second Olympics in Paris, the now 21-year-old Richards is ready to be the main man.
Last year he won his first individual world title in the men’s 200m freestyle. He broke the British record in the 100m freestyle.
He also became the first person to swim a sub-22 second 50m freestyle, a sub-48 second 100m freestyle and a sub-one minute, 45 second 200m freestyle.
In short, he has become one of the world’s very best.
Richards has qualified for three individual events in Paris – the 50m, 100m and 200m freestyle – and could swim three relays too.
It could be a really special summer.
“I can’t wait,” he told BBC Sport Wales. “I’m really looking forward to getting racing.
“I was a young newbie to the team at the last Olympics. There was absolutely no expectation on me. It was just ‘get in and see what you can do’.
“Now there is more expectation on me but I look at that as a privilege. It means you’ve done something well to get to that position.
“We all believe I can do something special and that’s exciting.”
