Leon Marchand 2:06.59 200 Breast French Record | RACE ANALYSIS

2023 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS

Another Sunday, another Bob Bowman-trained swimmer breaking a national record and making headlines on SwimSwam. Leon Marchand is getting really good at the thing where we think he is going to swim fast in-season… then he swims faster. Marchand just dropped a 2:06.59 200 breast French record at the French world champ trials in Rennes, his first event of the meet. Some thoughts on the race:

  • He was 15-17-17-18 strokes per 50
  • He swam it similarly to how he has in past 200 breaststroke (scy and lcm): He goes out fast the first 50 and then does a pretty good job at maintaining tempo and rhythm even though each subsequent 50 gets slower
  • Marchand tempos up the last 30 meters of the race as you can see fatigue setting in and he starts to lose grip in his stroke
  • When looking at the world record splits compared to this race, Zac Stubblety-Cook was .8 slower at the 150 then out split Marchand by over a second on the last 50… which could make for a very exciting race at the Paris 2024 Olympics

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Swim or Die
1 year ago

I think he would have been 2:06 low if he nailed his finish instead of taking that 1/2 glide at the end…

TerrificLéon
1 year ago

Ok, he’s already said he didn’t think he’d swim the 200 breaststroke in Japan because of the 200m im final which follows the 1/2 breaststroke, but the sentence in French leaves a little doubt: “je ne pense pas” (i don’t think) = “je ne suis pas tout à fait sûr” (i’m not completely sure).

In my opinion, he wanted to try something big yesterday, i.e. the world record or see if he was capable of coming close to it. He half succeeded, coming within 64 hundredths of Stubblety-Cook. Hence, in my opinion, the uncertainty that remains for Léon, even if, no doubt, caution will prevail (he’s still very young for such a challenge)…

I’ve heard several French fans… Read more »

Facts
Reply to  TerrificLéon
1 year ago

Might be a mad crazy idea but if he doesn’t go sub 1:55 200 IM this meet, does he consider dropping the 200 IM for the 200 breast and go for the breast world record instead at worlds

snailSpace
Reply to  Facts
1 year ago

Depending on his time in the 200IM it might be wiser for him to drop the IM and go for the breast. Foster, Casas, Wang Shun and Duncan Scott all produced similar times relatively recently in the 200 IM, whereas it appears he will only have to go through ZSC for the gold in the breast (not easy, but still).
Then again, if he goes 1:54 or faster, and the Americans don’t match this kind of time, the IM remains the better option, as he is still not quite as fast as ZSC in the breast.

Sam Meisel
1 year ago

This is insane!

MIKE IN DALLAS
1 year ago

At the Olympics, we’ll see what he’s really made of. The schedule there does NOT play to his strengths, so, he’ll have to choose wisely what events he’s going to try.

Brownish
Reply to  Coleman Hodges
1 year ago

200 Breast.

ERNESTO C
1 year ago

Leon Marchand likely smash world record in Fukuoka next month

Sub13
Reply to  ERNESTO C
1 year ago

He said he’s not swimming it

TerrificLéon
Reply to  Sub13
1 year ago

Not exactly, he said “i don’t think so… we’ll see depending on the time I do here”.

About Coleman Hodges

Coleman Hodges

Coleman started his journey in the water at age 1, and although he actually has no memory of that, something must have stuck. A Missouri native, he joined the Columbia Swim Club at age 9, where he is still remembered for his stylish dragon swim trunks. After giving up on …

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