Earlier this week, world record holder Leon Marchand spoke to French media, and said one of his goals for this summer’s European Championships was taking down his own 400 IM World Record.
Marchand broke the record in the 400 IM in July of 2023, swimming 4:02.50 to take more than a second off Michael Phelps‘s former record of 4:03.84 and his own personal best of 4:04.28. Since then, Marchand has missed that mark, swimming 4:02.95 at the Paris Olympics to win the gold medal in the 2nd fastest time ever. At the 2025 World Championships in Singapore, he swam 4:04.73, a little more than two seconds off his record time.
He told the media, “The idea is to beat my best times. The program isn’t finalized yet, but I know I’ll be doing the 400 IM on the first day. If I qualify, it would be a race where I’d like to break my record.”
He went on to say that breaking the record was something he is looking to do in the “near future” and that taking it down in Paris “would be fantastic”.
The European Championships will run for seven days and the men’s 400 IM is the first event on day one, Monday, August 10th. Other day one events are the women’s 100 free, men’s 50 fly, women’s 200 backstroke, and men’s 100 breaststroke. The 400 IM final will be the 3rd event of the evening session and the only individual final of the day.
Marchand also spoke with the media about his training, saying, “this is the first time that March has been so difficult in terms of volume, intensity, and the challenge of stringing together sessions.”
In 2022, 2023, and 2024, Marchand was on the NCAA schedule, which meant that he fully tapered for the NCAA Championships at the end of March, and would have had a lighter March in regard to training.
Last year, in 2025, Marchand was dealing with injury at the start of the year, and was likely still making his way back to full training, returning to Bob Bowman‘s group at the University of Texas at the end of March.
He also detailed one of his recent practices where the swimmers did 72x50s long course. Marchand did one free/one fly, then two free/two fly, three free/three fly… up to eight free/eight fly on about 10 seconds rest apiece. He said “that’s the kind of set we were doing. Once is fine, but when you have nine a week…”
Marchand spoke about recovery as he is getting older (he will be 24 on May 17th), saying that, “physically that it was really tough because I’m not 19 anymore. My body adapted incredibly well 3-4 years ago. Now, I react very differently. I’ve had to adapt my recovery methods a bit, so there’s a constant state of fatigue, but we managed well.”
He will return to racing at the end of April at the Speedo For Lauderdale Open from April 29-May 2.
All quotes are translated from their original French.
I would like to announce that I will be going for the World Record in the 25 Meter breaststroke on the opening Saturday of my summer club pool.
Who does USA have up and coming in the men’s 400IM besides Carson who could challenge for medals in LA?
Rex Maurer seems like the most likely candidate. Maybe Luka Mijatovic depending on what he focuses on. Sean Green maybe. Baylor Nelson maybe.
Since 2019 (Carson, Jason Louser, Jake), there have only been two new entries in the U.S. top 17 all-time in 17-18s. Luke Ellis and Sean Green. Green dropped almost four seconds in yards during his freshman season at Georgia so while he’s a ways away (2:15 last summer), that time could melt away in a hurry.
For me, the program of L Marchand in European Championships will be (j1) 400 IM,perhaps 4*200 fr with Grousset…. against the UK team 😜 / (j2) 4*100 IM mixt / 200 br(j3) / perhaps 200 fr(j4) /200 FL(j5) and 200 IM ( j6) with 4*100 im (j7)
No 400 free( J7) and 100 br (J1) or 200 bk (j2) ( there are a few of swimmers in this run in France) 8 under the time of selection 1’58.)
But for the French Championship in the begin of July, I think that, he will swimming, 400 FR and 200 bk, the final will be .💥💥💥
I wish him luck, but that pool is slow.
Has the Paris pool hosted any major meets yet where we know it’s slow?
Isn’t it the same one as the Olympics? If not, I made a wrong assumption.
It’s not the temporary pool located in Paris La Défense arena in 2024. For the good. It’s in the olympic aquatic center in Saint-Denis where Giant Open took place last monthand the pool is quite fast according to the swimmers.
Yes, what Kawaik25ean. It is the “Olympic pool,” but it is the one that hosted diving, synchro, and water polo events, not the one that hosted swimming.
The one that hosted swimming that was “slow” was a temporary pool inside an indoor rugby stadium that was disassembled after the games.
Just like the rest of us–out there trying to go best times: “The idea is to beat my best times” (okay…maybe not *exactly* like the rest of us 😆).
PS: I seem to remember Sarah Sjöström once saying something brilliant like: I don’t often go best times, but, when I do, I break a world record. ❤️
“If I qualify, it would be a race where I’d like to break my record.”
He’s too humble, acting like there’s a world where he doesn’t qualify for the final lol.
He nearly missed the final in Singapore. Okay, his 400Im training should not be optimal after his long break and the event was the last day too. He pulled himself together the evening (4.04.73 a good time at that point) but didn’t seem so serene before the race. He may be wary.
Didn’t he also say that the 200IM wr in the semis basically wrecked him for the rest of the meet
Well he only had the final of the 2IM after that indivually tho
Absolutely.He gave his all for this world record, he was his goal in these championships. In final, he struggled against Shane (relatively speaking of course 1.53 i s great !) and seemed very exhausted after the race like I’ve never seen him before in Paris or Worlds.His lack of training was obvious (long break plus injuries) and he dropped 200fly and 200br before the competition accordingly.
No article for GB Euro’s team?
You can find the team here-
https://www.britishswimming.org/news/latest-swimming-news/olympic-champions-and-rising-stars-headline-european-championships-team/
Not the full quota of 40, but still a healthy size at 36.
As for his program, he definitely should stay with his four individual events to lower his times and not waste some energy on free. It’s too early for 200 or 400 free, or will he want to compete against the best (Popovici and Märtens) unlike his usual races where he should be head and shoulders above the rest (unless Milak participates or Kos in 200IM to a lesser extent).
his line-up in Fort Lauderdale with his four events, good point !
He should remain focused on it for the moment.
In the interview, you can feel he really wants to swim the 400 free. He’s right. It’s the year to try this challenge. He said he’s certain to swim the 400 IM and the 200 breast. If he swims the 400 free, I think he’ll drop the 200 IM (finals the same session). What about the 200 fly ? I’d really like he decides to swim it. Because he swam a huge time last december in 1:52.57. Imagine what he’d be capable of in August. I deeply think he’s able to break Milak’s WR. Marchand is more powerful than two years ago. For the 200 breast, I’m sure he targets Qin Haiyang’s WR. He’s just 37 hundredths of a second… Read more »
I really hope to see him nab that 200 Breast WR. As you say, he’s very close, under .4. That seems doable.
I’m not sure I see him actually breaking Milak’s 200 fly record. That record still seems insane to me. I am not sure my brain can even picture someone breaking it. Even with that fast time he had in December.
I am definitely excited, though, at the idea of him targeting his own 400IM WR. It really seems like he should be able to do that. Both his freestyle and backstroke have improved since 2023.
It might be a hot take but I don’t think the 200 breast WR is a given. His improvement in 200 IM mainly comes from back and free. Fly and breast, especially breast, don’t look much better than before. But he would have the advantage of being more fresh than at the Olympics.
agree that he wouldn’t be able to drop a breasstroke time as much as an IM time. You’re correct that his improvement is coming in back and free. But, .37 isn’t an impossible task. And he has a great breaststroke technique. I still think he could get this one.