Analyzing How Marchand’s Opening 15 Meters Won Him 200 Breast Gold Over ZSC

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.

• See The 200 Fly Breakdown Here

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.

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

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

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

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

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

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 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

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

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.