2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES
- Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
- Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
- La Défense Arena — Paris, France
- LCM (50 meters)
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- Prelims Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
- Finals Live Recaps: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5 | Day 6 | Day 7
MEN’S 200 INDIVIDUAL MEDLEY – FINAL
- World Record: 1:54.00 – Ryan Lochte, USA (2011)
- World Junior Record: 1:56.99 – Hubert Kos, HUN (2021)
Olympic Record: 1:54.23 – Michael Phelps, USA (2008)- 2021 Winning Time: 1:55.00 – Wang Shun, CHN
- 2021 Time to Win Bronze: 1:56.17
- Leon Marchand (France) – 1:54.06 (Olympic Record)
- Duncan Scott (Great Britain) – 1:55.31
- Wang Shun (China) – 1:56.00
- Carson Foster (United States) – 1:56.10
- Tom Dean (United States) – 1:56.46
- Alberto Razzetti (Italy) – 1:56.82
- Daiya Seto (Japan) – 1:57.21
- Finlay Knox (Canada) – 1:57.26
Leon Marchand of France swam to his 4th individual Olympic gold medal in Paris, swimming a 1:54.06 in the 200 IM. That swim broke the Olympic Record of a 1:54.23 that Michael Phelps set back in 2008. The swim also was the 2nd fastest performance all-time.
Split Comparison
| Marchand 2024 | Phelps 2008 | Marchand 2023 (Old French/European Records) | Lochte 2011 | |
| 50 | 24.74 | 24.59 | 24.94 | 24.89 |
| 100 | 28.83 | 28.81 | 28.66 | 28.59 |
| 150 | 32.36 | 33.5 | 32.94 | 33.03 |
| 200 | 28.15 | 27.33 | 28.28 | 27.49 |
| 1:54.06 | 1:54.23 | 1:54.82 | 1:54.00 |
The biggest difference tonight for Marchand was his breaststroke leg. He was over half a second faster today than his own previous French and European Record and also over a second faster on the breaststroke leg than Phelps was in 2008.
All-Time Top Performances 200 IM
- Ryan Lochte (USA), 1:54.00 (2011)
- Leon Marchand (France), 1:54.06 (2024)
- Ryan Lochte (USA), 1:54.10 (2009)
- Michael Phelps (USA), 1:54.16 (2011)
- Michael Phelps (USA), 1:54.23 (2008)
Marchand’s previous best time of a 1:54.82 was the 12th fastest performance of all-time but his time tonight propels him up the rankings to sit as the 2nd fastest performance all-time. He just missed Ryan Lochte‘s record of 1:54.00.
Heard Marchand refused to shake hands with Wang Shun’s coach. Can we get a story and more details on this?
Could he have won the 100 breast and/or 200 free? Based off the winning times in these events, I think probably
what were the michael andrew splits in his best 200 IM ? i think he is the only one that could go faster than marchand in the breast split and in the 150m split
Ye shiwen would have broken the WR on the last 50.
I don’t know French swimming well, but he’s the best French swimmer in history right?
the best swimmers before this year were the manaudou siblings.
flo is a specialist with longevity. laure was versatile with a small window of success, which included 3 medals in athens (gold, silver and bronze) and 3 wc golds. not to mention she broke evans long-standing 400 free wr.
leon has won more gold medals in laure’s timeframe, while also breaking a wr of similar status. I’d say he’s better than flo at this point, but he’ll probably need to win in LA to quash the longevity argument
There’s only about 5 guys arguably better than him in history and they aren’t French
Bro rly threaded the needle for another #2 all time bruh
I was joking when I pointed out how small it was yesterday…
That breast split was insane. Excitad to see what he does in the medley relay
Phelps v. Marchand goat debates after LA are gonna go crazy.
I made the comment in another thread. Marchand might be the closest we see to Phelps. But there is no way he can catch up to Phelps’ accomplishments. The list is too long. And part of what makes Phelps the GOAT is the longevity.
Only because of relays.
Individual still unlikely (obviously), but possible.
no it’s because of his 13 individual olympic golds across 4 olympics, in a career spanning 16 years
Yes, which is a mark that is (while unlikely), atleast possible.
I don’t think he will (don’t know how many times I have to say this), but it’s definitely within the realms of possibility he approaches that.
Hes 2 years older than Phelps was in Athens right? They both currently have 4 individual Olympic golds across their first 2 Olympics.
If Marchand was an American this would be a 7 gold meet for him, same as Phelps in Athens.
So I’d say they’re pretty close at this point of their careers.
Marchand has broken 1 WR and lowered it by a second.
In Athens, Phelps had already lowered the 100 fly record by 0.3, the 200 fly record by 1.2, the 200 IM record by 2.2, and the 400 IM record by almost 3 seconds.
I think the unfair part is just the timing Phelps had with swimming with the supersuits aiding his WRs and being a part of when Swimming had a boom in the public eye. I remember when Phelps was the only swimmer with a Wikipedia page, and now almost everyone making a semifinal does. It’s similar to Jordan vs. Lebron debates; their influence on the sports gets taken into account for GOAT discussions even though for circumstances/timing… Read more »
Phelps was setting WRs at 16 in 2001 and 15 years later was still the most decorated athlete at the 2016 games.
The reasons for the comparisons are obvious but we really don’t need to force it righr now or get hyperbolic, let’s give Marchand another Olympiad first at least
Phelps wins every debate until Marchand competes in the Freestyle events.
He needs to start going head-to-head against Chlorine Daddy, and Pan like phelps did with Thorpe and PVDH if he is going to have a shot at establishing himself as the GOAT. He needs to win world champs 200 free gold at the least. At the most, he needs to win gold in L.A. and help the french team win the 4×100 free relay next olympics.
Totally agree. If Marchand can dominate for 4 Olympics, then we can debate. Longevity is the key. Right now Marchand is unbeatable, and can set more records in the future.
It has to be said though – in terms of winning multiple events, Phelps’ era was much weaker than this era. Phelps couldn’t hang with the 100fly guys now, and 200fly is getting more competitive all the time.
For those that watch hockey – it’s like McDavid chasing Gretzky. The athlete from the previous era might not necessarily be *better* than the current athlete, they just stand out more relative to weaker peers.
For the record, I can’t discount what Phelps did, because he took the WRs to some astounding places and rarely ever lost. My point is that without a doubt, this era is deeper and more specialized in terms of swimmers excelling in fewer events.
Phelps would not have won 8 gold medals if he swam today. But although the era is better and more specialized, the sport continues to improve as we find out how to maximize training and analytics in the sport. It’s not like track and field which has been very optimized for a long time.
Who’s to say that Phelps couldn’t do a 4:02 400 IM, 1:50 200 fly, or 1:53 200 IM if he raced and swam today? He obviously had the talent and mindset. He was a trailblazer who had seemingly infinite motivation and hated to lose like nobody we’ve ever seen.
Marchand had a phenomenal Olympics. Absolutely exhilarating, let’s see him do it again 2-3 more… Read more »
Phelps dominated stacked fields but the caliber of his competition is hard to appreciate because he deprived so many guys of the accolades to reflect their greatness. That should boost Phelps’ legacy, not the opposite
Michael Phelps set 29 WRs