four months before the Olympics, Léon Marchand confirms his great form by breaking a new record – Libération

2024-03-29 08:46:13

The 21-year-old swimmer from Toulouse, who has been training in the United States for two years, achieved a new benchmark time during the NCAA university finals on Thursday March 28 in the evening.

He is gaining momentum before the Paris Games. French swimming star Léon Marchand got off to a perfect start in the NCAA university finals on Thursday March 28 in the evening in Indianapolis, in the United States, by establishing a new reference time in the 500-yard freestyle. Four months before the Olympics (July 26 – August 11), the man many see as “the new Michael Phelps” won his first individual event, the 500-yard freestyle (457 m, short course) in 4 min 02 sec 31 , greatly improving his own NCAA record (4:06.18).

The 21-year-old Frenchman, triple world champion last summer in Fukuoka (Japan), is participating in the NCAA finals for Arizona State University (ASU). He has been exiled in this southwestern American state for two and a half years and the Tokyo Olympics. The 21-year-old from Toulouse developed his talents in Phoenix under the orders of Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps.

Léon Marchand now seems in resplendent form, having also shone recently during the Pac-12, a major event bringing together twelve universities from the western United States, where he won the 500 yards, the 400 yards medley and the 200 yards breaststroke.

Enough to forget the difficulties encountered in November when health problems (fever, sinuses, cough, wisdom teeth) disrupted his preparation. “It’s been a season with ups and downs,” he admitted before the start of the NCAA finals. “It was a bit hard, especially being on your own and starting training from scratch. But I told myself that I still had a lot of time before the Games. I just started swimming slowly, working on my technique. The intensity wasn’t necessarily there at the start, but it came back gradually.”

The world record holder in the 400m medley must now compete in the 400 yard medley then the 200 yard breaststroke this Friday. After the American university finals, it will then be time for him to turn to the long course season which will take him to the French Championships (June 11-16 in Chartres), which will be the only qualifying competition for the Olympic Games.

“Win the 200m medley and the 400m medley” at the Olympics

“I know very well that I am expected at all the races now. People always want more,” admitted the swimmer in an interview Wednesday with the team. Léon Marchand also gave his “objective” for the Paris Olympics: “Win ​​the 200m medley and the 400m medley”.

But as he remains a student, the 21-year-old will meanwhile have his end-of-semester exams to pass in May. Despite the Olympic deadline, the IT enthusiast did not want to put his studies aside. “I did it the year of the Tokyo Games (2021) because I had finished my baccalaureate. I wanted to really prepare for the Games and in fact, mentally it wasn’t easy to do swimming all the time without ever going to class, without ever thinking about anything else. In this Olympic year, Léon Marchand therefore decided “to do something a little more balanced”.