Courtesy: Dominique Hérailh
This data is courtesy of the French Swimming Federation.
The French Swimming Federation has released detailed statistics on all the swimming finals at the Paris Olympics, and in this article, we’ll break down the final of the men’s 200 breaststroke where Leon Marchand soared to gold over defending champion Zac Stubblety-Cook (ZSC).
In a previous article, we had already detailed the 200-meter fly, the first swim of Leon Marchand’s historic double on the evening of July 31st in the overexcited atmosphere of the Arena Défense. The story would not be complete if we did not talk about this second race that made this feat memorable.
For a complete view of the podium, we will also note the data of the bronze medalist, Caspar Corbeau.
Let’s start with a general overview before getting into the full breakdown.
This first table gives the decomposition of the full 200 meters broken down by the underwater portion and the ‘over the water’ segments. The number of strokes and their amplitude are also provided.
Marchand | ZSC | C.Corbeau | |
Underwater Distance (m) | 53.7 | 42.4 | 50.3 |
Time Underwater (s) | 28.28 | 21.92 | 26.84 |
Value in m/sec (D/T) | 1.90 | 1.93 | 1.87 |
Swimming distance | 146.3 | 157.6 | 149.7 |
Time Over The Water (s) | 97.57 | 104.87 | 101.06 |
Value in m/s (D/T) | 1.50 | 1.50 | 1.48 |
Total Strokes | 65 | 73 | 57 |
Average amplitude per stroke | 2.31 | 2.22 | 2.65 |
In this event, Marchand’s strength lies in his underwater glide. While Marchand covers 53.7 meters underwater, ZSC manages only 42.4 meters, or 79% of that distance. Corbeau covers 50.3 meters, achieving 94% of Marchand’s distance. Although ZSC’s underwater distance is shorter, he covers it slightly faster.
In the actual swimming portion, Marchand and ZSC have nearly identical speeds (1.50 m/s), with Corbeau being slightly slower.
The following graph compares stroke frequency and speed.
Observing the relationship between stroke frequency and speed, we see that Marchand only slightly increased his stroke rate to maintain speed, while ZSC had to significantly increase his stroke rate to achieve nearly the same speed. This is reminiscent of cycling, where some riders can maintain a high gear ratio while others need to change gears. This suggests that ZSC was at his limit, while Marchand may have had more in reserve if faced with a tighter race.
Let’s break down the race.
Marchand’s reaction time at the start was the fastest (0.64), followed by ZSC (0.66) and Corbeau (0.68).
Start to 15 meters
Marchand | ZSC | C.Corbeau | |
Time (s) | 5.95 | 6.88 | 6.31 |
Value in m/sec (D/T) | 2.52 | 2.18 | 2.32 |
The time gap at 15 meters between Marchand and ZSC is the same as at the finish with a difference of one one-hundredth of a second. ZSC had a poor start. His underwater was three meters shorter than Marchand’s (14.17 vs 17.22) and his speed on this portion was significantly slower (2.52 vs 2.18). Note that Marchand was even faster than the fastest opening 15-meter split in the 100 breast final (Nic Fink at 5.96).
15 Meters To 50 Meters
Marchand | ZSC | C. Corbeau | |
Time (s) | 22.47 | 22.42 | 22.88 |
Value in m/s (D/T) | 1.558 | 1.561 | 1.530 |
Stubblety-Cook managed to make a touch of ground on Marchand early in the race, although Marchand’s advantage off the blocks kept him out ahead early.
Early Standings
- Marchand 28.42
- Dong +0.63
- Matheny +0.75
- Corbeau +0.77
- ZSC +0.88
First Turn
Marchand | ZSC | C. Corbeau | |
Underwater (m) | 12.68 | 9.61 | 11.92 |
Time (s) | 7.56 | 5.56 | 7.15 |
Value in m/s | 1.68 | 1.73 | 1.67 |
Time 15 meters | 9.17 | 9.18 | 9.29 |
Speed (m/s) | 1.636 | 1.634 | 1.615 |
Despite a longer underwater from Marchand, ZSC made up that advantage swimming, as the two had near identical 15-meter splits.
65 Meters To 100 Meters
Marchand | ZSC | C. Corbeau | |
Time (s) | 23.00 | 23.08 | 22.92 |
Value in m/s (D/T) | 1.522 | 1.516 | 1.527 |
Corbeau was the fastest in this part. He covered the 50 to 100-metre section in just 13 strokes. As a very tall athlete (1.98m or 6’6), Corbeau has a powerful stroke and long glide.
100-Meter Standings:
- Marchand 1:00.59
- Corbeau +0.81
- ZSC +0.97
Second turn
Marchand | ZSC | C. Corbeau | |
Underwater (m) | 12.11 | 9.17 | 11.77 |
Time (s) | 7.24 | 5.42 | 7.26 |
Value in m/sec (D/T) | 1.67 | 1.69 | 1.62 |
Time 15 meters | 9.10 | 9.32 | 9.54 |
Speed m/s | 1.65 | 1.61 | 1.57 |
It is from this second turn that Corbeau begins to fall off the pace. Marchand improves from first turn time, which was not the case with ZSC.
115 Meters To 150 Meters
Marchand | ZSC | C. Corbeau | |
Time (s) | 23.43 | 23.42 | 23.83 |
Value in m/sec (D/T) | 1.494 | 1.494 | 1.469 |
Marchand and ZSC log the same time through this portion, though ZSC significantly increase his tempo, taking 19 strokes compared to Marchand’s 16.
At 150 meters, the standings were as follows:
- L.Marchand: 1:33.12
- Stubblety Cook: + 1,18
- C.Corbeau: +1,65
Third turn
Marchand | ZSC | C. Corbeau | |
Underwater (m) | 11.72 | 9.41 | 1.64 |
Time (s) | 7.06 | 5.43 | 6.44 |
Value in m/s | 1.66 | 1.73 | 1.65 |
Time 15 meters | 9.24 | 9.13 | 9.58 |
Speed (m/s) | 1.623 | 1.643 | 1.566 |
In this last turn, ZSC’s underwater and stroke efficiency proved to have an advantage over Marchand. Relative to butterfly for example, the length of the underwater off the turn in breaststroke doesn’t seem to be as indicative to overall success.
165 Meters To 200 Meters
Marchand | ZSC | C.Corbeau | |
Time (s) | 23.49 | 23.36 | 23.55 |
Value in m/sec (D/T) | 1.490 | 1.498 | 1.486 |
This last closing section did not fundamentally change the face of the race.
Although ZSC was slightly faster, he could only take back a few hundredths to Marchand, who finished 94 one-hundredths ahead (2:05.95 to 2:06.79). Corbeau ended up more than two seconds back of Marchand for bronze in 2:07.90.
The graph below shows the near-symmetry of Marchand and ZSC’s races. Both built perfect races from the perspective of splitting, managing their stroke rates and getting the most out of what they had on the day.
Speed In m/s Per Section
It’s possible that if ZSC was on career-best form (2:05.95 PB), he and Marchand could’ve challenged the world record (2:05.48), but that one remains on the books for now.
ZSC is so mean ;to Qin Haiyang and he cant accept losing
You havent even raced Qin yet and you’re going on a podium protest… like what the heck?
https://swimswam.com/aussie-zac-stubblety-cook-reportedly-considering-podium-protest-against-qin-haiyango/
ZSC so overrated bro
Underwaters in breaststroke seem criminally underrated, especially in LC.
Look at the ground Marchand and Corbeau made here and also Fink in the 100m. I’m surprised why this seemingly isn’t so well dialled in across the training for non US based or previously US based swimmers. Seems like an easy win to my novice self. Its surely a positive trade off to work on perfecting these skills at the expense of maybe slightly reducing yardage given the potential ground that can be made up at the start and turns?
Especially because breaststroke underwaters are comprised predominantly of gliding, as opposed to actively dolphin-kicking. Seems like an underwater pullout that carries you 12-15m has to be less physically taxing than 12-15m of dolphin kicking.
I noted this on the 200 fly article but I think it is even MORE important here due to the peaks and valley’s of speed present in a breaststroke underwater. Given how ZSC’s UW’s are SIGNIFICANTLY shorter than Marchand’s his speed peaks will be much closer together (I.e. the push off the wall, the dolphin kick, and the pull-down portions of the underwater) allowing for less deceleration (I.e. smaller valleys). This likely skews the average speed (again I am assuming that the number we are seeing here is average speed, it is not stated) for ZSC’s UW’s and makes it very difficult to draw any comparison between them and Marchand’s UW’s. In order to draw any accurate conclusions we would… Read more »
In what world did we ever think Leon was going to loose this race…
In the world where we all thought Qin would be close to his form from last year.
By the time the actual event came around, we knew that wasn’t true and it was an easy pick.
There were 3 swimmers headed into the Olympics with a faster PB than Leon in this event
Once the meet got going, it was clear that Leon was the favorite, but before that he definitely wasn’t.
That double is historic