Litchfield and Willmott kick off medal charge in Luxembourg

Max Litchfield and Aimee Willmott kicked off the English challenge with 400m IM medals on the opening night of the Luxembourg Euro Meet.

Litchfield won gold while Wilmott claimed 400m IM silver and 800m Free bronze on a successful night of swimming in Luxembourg.

City of Sheffield swimmer Litchfield impressed in his first long 400m IM since finishing fourth on his Olympic debut in Rio last summer.

The 21-year old has since won world short course silver, and showed his class to take the touch by more than seven seconds in 4:16.65, setting a meet record in the process.

Willmott clocked 4:38.35 for her silver in the women’s event, touched out by Hungary’s Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu on 4:35.46.

She returned to place third in the 800m Freestyle later in the session, touching in 8:45.24.

English success in sprint prelims

There was more English success in the sprint prelims on the opening night.

Ben Proud and Adam Barrett qualified in first and second for the A final of the 50m Butterfly.

British record holder Proud led the way in 23.63 while Barrett was just 0.42 off his PB as he clocked 23.82.

Olympic 4x100m Medley Relay medallist Chris Walker-Hebborn was second fastest from the 50m Backstroke heats.

The 26-year old came home in 25.98 while City of Derby’s Luke Greenbank made the A final in sixth on 26.61.

Olympic 200m IM silver medallist Siobhan-Marie O’Connor also made smooth progress in the 50m Butterfly.

The 21-year old was fourth fastest overall after a 27.21 effort in the heats.