But who will stop Leon Marchand? For his first long-term competition in 2023, the Frenchman signed, on Saturday April 15, the best world performance of the year in the 200m medley at the Westmont meeting (Illinois), an appointment counting for the circuit. American Pro Series.
Crowned world exercise champion in Budapest in 2022, the 20-year-old from Toulouse, who studies and trains in the United States, won in 1 min 55 s 68. Above all, he offers himself the record of Pro Series distance, owned since 2012 by swimming legend Michael Phelps (1:56:32). In the final, the Toulousian clearly beat the Americans, Shaine Casas, 2nd, (1 min 56 s 6) and Chase Kalisz, 3rd (1 min 58 s 78).
Three months before the 2023 Worlds, from July 23 to 30 in Fukuoka (Japan), Léon Marchand is only 46 hundredths from the time achieved in the final of the previous world championship, in Hungary – 1 min 55 sec 22, record of France.
Four titles gleaned from Westmont
At Westmont, he had already won on Thursday in the 400m medley (4 min 7 s 80) – an event in which he had also won gold in Budapest – as well as the 200m butterfly ( 1 min 55 s 58) – discipline of which he is vice-world champion. The next day, he won the title in the 200m breaststroke (2 min 10 s 52).
Léon Marchand is coached by Bob Bowman, former coach of Michael Phelps, at Arizona State University. By the end of March, he had clocked the fastest 200-yard breaststroke in NCAA history in 1:46.91 and won two more titles.