2023-07-23 17:44:00
The Frenchman won the 400m medley at the Worlds in Fukuoka, Japan.
The French swimming prodigy Léon Marchand struck a blow on Sunday, one year before the Olympic Games, by erasing from the shelves the record of the legendary Michael Phelps, to retain his title of world champion in the 400m medley in Fukuoka (Japan) “It’s excellent, I train every day for it. There I break my time by two seconds, I make the record so it’s great“, he added after setting a stratospheric time of 4 min 2 sec 50/100, one second and three tenths less than the time of American legend Michael Phelps.
Marchand improves his own mark by two seconds and sweeps the last individual world record still in force from Phelps, present in Fukuoka for American television. “It was crazy! The weather is crazy!“, he savored before receiving his gold medal, precisely from the hands of Phelps, the man with 23 Olympic titles with whom he shares the same coach, the American Bob Bowman.
A few moments before, he had met his other coach, Frenchman Nicolas Castel, at the edge of the pool, who advised him to “to profit from». «We must not get bored of these moments, these are moments that are rare“, he said.
Read alsoSwimming Worlds: Léon Marchand in the final of the 400m medley
Games attraction
At 21, Léon Marchand is no longer a swimming hope but a phenomenon. If his name does not yet fully resonate with the general public, things should change by next summer and the Toulousain will undoubtedly be the attraction of the first week of the Paris Olympics. Like last year, the French beat the American Carson Foster, 21 like him. While he had distanced his runner-up by two seconds last year, this time he preceded him by more than four seconds.
The Japanese Daiya Seto took third place just ahead of the American Chase Kalisz, Olympic champion in Tokyo two years ago and training partner of the French since this season.
For his entry into the running in these Worlds, the second of his young career, Marchand had quietly managed his semi-final, achieving the second best time in 4 min 10 sec 88/100. His opponents were warned since when he arrived in Japan, he already had the best world performance of the year (4 min 07 sec 80/100), a time established in Rennes during the French Championships when he was only at 50% of his form according to his coach.
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A busy program
Marchand brings France its first medal at these World Championships. In Fukuoka, he will also be looking to retain his 200m medley title and go one better than last year’s silver in the 200m butterfly. He might even be able to line up in the 200m breaststroke if his coaches allow him to add a race to his already busy schedule. The first evening of competition was also marked by a high-level battle in the women’s 400m freestyle final.
The race was one of the most anticipated of the week as it saw the American Katie Ledecky, reigning world champion, the Australian Ariarne Titmus, who holds the Olympic crown, and the young Canadian Summer McIntosh, 16 years old and holder of the world record.
In the end, there really was no match. The Australian won quite far ahead, recovering in passing the world record that McIntosh had stolen from her in March with a new mark of 3 min 55 sec 38/100. Titmus overtook Ledecky who won his 23rd world medal but who will still have to wait to afford a 20th title. McIntosh on the other hand cracked at the end of the race, being blown bronze by New Zealander Erika Fairweather.
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