2481 days. That was how long it had been since his last competitive 400m freestyle when James Guy stepped on the block at the City of Sheffield Winter meet to race the event again. It was a bit lower key than the previous swim which had seen a Commonwealth Bronze medal on the Gold Coast, but it marked the start of a return to the event for the man who remains the British Record holder and who will now take to the blocks to race over 8 lengths of the London Aquatic centre at the forthcoming British Championships.

For a number of years his focus has been on the 200m freestyle and on becoming the key butterfly cog in Britain’s medley relays, so why turn the clock back ?

“I’ve always found the 400 a great event” he says. “I’ve always liked watching it. I’ve always liked doing it and I wish I hadn’t given it up because I know that I can do it and there’s more in there for me. So I’m excited to do it again and see if I can get down to my best again. That’s the plan.”

As simple as that then, but how about the demands of swimming an event twice as long as the one you have been focussed on? This is an issue that Guy gives short shrift – “I feel like I’m fit enough to do it” – while acknowledging that there are different demands. “The 400 free is one of those events where there is no hiding. It shows how fit you are. “

So that must mean a big change in his training regime? It’s been more evolution than revolution. “People think in swimming that because you’ve come down an event, you just do less work and it isn’t like that” he explains. “It’s a slightly different emphasis. It’s not more, it’s just different and it’s more aerobic, more of that middle ground work. But that’s what I used to do. I grew up on that. So it’s like, get back to this again.”

The guys who I’m training with Manchester, they’ll tell you that aerobically I’m right up there. And I think Ryan knows that.”

The Ryan he mentions is Ryan Livingstone, the coach who rejuvenated Guy’s 200 freestyle at Millfield, leading him to a first best time in 9 years leading off the 4×200 freestyle in Paris, and who is now the head coach at the new Aquatics GB performance centre in Manchester. It was an easy decision for Guy to follow him there.

“Manchester’s fantastic. I’m from here originally and my mum and dad are up here” he explains. “It’s really gone full circle, my swimming career, I was born and raised here and then come back here. So when Ryan told us he had a job in Manchester, I was like, great, I know exactly where to buy a house!”

“Bath has a lot of good memories. Millfield made me who I am today but Manchester’s where I will retire, my swimming career will finish up here with Ryan. And when I’m ready and done, that’s where it’ll be.”

In the meantime, and with no immediate plans for that retirement, the work goes on in the pool.

“One thing that with Ryan that we’ve done now is that I’ve added another session, just to get some more aerobic meters in. I don’t care who I train with. I’ll train on my own usually on that session. The group we’ve got is brilliant, I really love it, but a lot of the stuff I do is on my own because it’s more endurance based for the four. But it also helps the 200 because it’s going to help the finish and give you more easy speed. “

That physical prowess is only part of the story for an event where tactics can be just as important, an area that Guy loves, recalling his desire to learn the event by studying others.

“It’s about pacing, but it’s very tactical. There’s loads of ways you can swim it and I’ve tried every single way!”

I remember watching the London 400 free in 2012 on repeat, like over and over again when I was 16, 17. I’d always watch the Aussies when they would swim it and just try and copy. ”

For example, at the 2011 Worlds, Park Tae-hwan was in lane one and he went with 150 to go and I was like, you’ve won it. So I tried it at my youth nationals something like a month later, big PB!”

That knowledge will be a big part of making it a successful return to an event that has gotten faster very quickly in recent years, and a big British Record will be needed to be competitive on the global stage. It’s not a challenge that is overly worrying Guy as he seeks a berth in the 400 for this year’s World Championships.

“I know that there’s no reason why I can’t get it down to my best again. There’s just not a reason why. I haven’t done it for a long time but I feel like it can happen again, so I’m doing it and that’s it.”

Banner image: Mine Kasapoglu/ISL