Swimmer Max Litchfield wins silver on return from injury at Sette Colli Trophy in Rome
Thursday 5 July 2018 15:01, UK
It has been nearly a year since Max Litchfield dipped into the pool at an international event thanks to a niggling shoulder injury.
No wonder the 23-year-old Sheffield swimmer described his comeback in Italy at the weekend as a "big step forward".
The Sky Sports Scholar even came home with some silverware in his luggage....
"What a setting to be back racing on the international scene!
Racing in Rome at the Sette Colli Trophy was a great way to reintroduce myself to competing again.
Since my shoulder problems last summer I have not swum a competitive 400IM, so be to racing in that event again just felt amazing.
The weekend started with a warm-up event for me - the 100 fly! I'm not known for being very twitchy so to get off to a good start with a PB of 54.3 seconds was a great kickstart for the event.
Day 2 brought the reintroduction of the 400IM. Obviously having not swam the event in so long I was a little nervous.
But after 11 months of solid rehab I managed to produce two solid performances - 4.18 minutes and 4.16 mins placing me fourth in the final.
Day 3 and it was the turn of the shorter medley event - the 200IM! I had already swam this a few weeks before at the Derventio Meet in Sheffield so I had a feel for how my body would react.
In the heats, I swam a season's best of 2.01 mins and backed that up in the final with a 1.59.6 mins placing me second. I was just three hundredths of a second behind the gold medallist.
Overall it was a really great step forward and to put in some solid mid-season times is very positive looking towards the European Championships in Glasgow in August.
There's no time for rest so it's back for more training straight away and ready to put in a final push before the Europeans.
I'm so excited to see what the next few weeks have in store for me.
