This is the image that will be remembered: July 23, as a symbol, the American Michael Phelps, 28 Olympic medalists, presents the gold medal to Léon Marchand. The 21-year-old Frenchman has just broken the world record for the 400 meter medley in 4’02″50, smashing Phelps’ time (4’3″84).

“The best is yet to come,” predicted Léon Marchand. It is clear that his intuition was the right one. And faster than expected. The swimmer from Toec, the emblematic club of Toulouse, did it again a few days later with the title in the 200 butterfly meters with, as a bonus, a new French record (1’52”43). Never two without three, the Toulousain then dominated the 200 meter medley in 1’54”82, becoming the only French swimmer to hold five world crowns.

Léon Marchand, coached by Nicolas Castel and the American Bob Bowman (ex-mentor of Phelps), trains up to 25 hours a week punctuated by 5 bodybuilding sessions. A well-established program and unfailing determination. Michel Coloma, general manager of the Dauphins du Toec, tells us more: “Léon is someone who shows a lot of humility, self-sacrifice. He doesn’t do things by halves. He applies himself systematically in what he does. In training, in competition, Léon leaves nothing to chance. Once he is in the water, his other asset is his phenomenal flows, he is very well placed, he comes out before everyone else with great acceleration. He knows how to recover. »

For Ganesh Pedurand, former French 200-meter medley champion, Maxime Grousset was able to win: “His results show that he is a versatile swimmer, he always manages to be at the highest level, to manage many races and pressure. All swimmers who do crawl and butterfly know that Maxime Grousset in a final means something. He has the qualities to become Olympic champion next year. »

Effectively promising results one year before the Paris Olympics. A prospect that seems to boost athletes, according to Michel Coloma: “The perspective of the Paris Olympics makes everyone put more heart into their work. All the clubs and their athletes work a lot. What better than to shine in front of his compatriots in such an important competition. There is therefore a certain emulation. Afterwards, it will have to be put to good use […] These performances in Japan are a good omen, but it’s still sport, anything can happen. »

If Léon Marchand panicked the lap times, the success was not there for everyone. This is the case for Florent Manaudou. The 2012 Olympic 50-meter freestyle champion failed to make it to the distance final. Mewen Tomac fell just short of the podium in the 200m backstroke. David Aubry couldn’t do anything in the 1500m freestyle. In the relays, we note the 4th place in the men’s 4 x 200 meter freestyle relay and the 4 x 100 meter medley.

For women, no medals, but finals. Mélanie Henique took 8th place in the 50-meter butterfly. Same scenario for Analia Pigrée in the 50 meter backstroke. Pauline Mahieu, who was competing in her first world final in the 100-meter backstroke, took 6th position by beating Laure Manaudou’s record in the series. No final for Marie Wattel in 50 meters freestyle and no results in the relays.

Two swimmers on top of the world, an encouraging record? “We had a Maxime and a Léon with a very good level, which is a pity, it did not create a strong enough emulation to take other swimmers in its wake […] There is when even had a lot of swimmers in the final or close to the podium, like the 4 x 200 meter relay (4th), so there is huge potential. A young generation of French swimmers is hatching,” analyzes Ganesh Pedurand.

In the medal table (large pool), France finished 4th with 6 medals (4 gold and 2 bronze). The top three are made up of Australia, the United States and China.