2024 WORLD AQUATICS SWIMMING WORLD CUP – SINGAPORE
- Thursday, October 31st – Saturday, November 2nd
- OCBC Aquatic Centre, Singapore
- Prelims at 9:30am local (9:30pm ET previous night)/Finals at 6:30pm local (6:30am ET)
- SCM (25m)
- Meet Central
- Competition Schedule
- Entries Book
- Day 1 Finals Recap | Day 2 Finals Recap
- Live Results
After rewriting the record books in short course yards and breaking one of the most vaunted world records in long course meters, Leon Marchand took hold of his first short course meter world record on Friday at the Singapore World Cup.
Marchand not only broke, but obliterated Ryan Lochte‘s 12-year-old world record in the 200 IM, clocking in with a time of 1:48.88 to knock three-quarters of a second off Lochte’s previous mark of 1:49.63.
Lochte set that world record at the 2012 Short Course World Championships, which made it the third-oldest male SCM world record on the books.
Marchand also lowered the European and French Records of 1:50.30 he set two weeks ago during the opening leg of the World Cup in Shanghai.
Relative to both Lochte and his swim in Shanghai, Marchand made the biggest inroads on Friday over the middle 100 meters, splitting a blistering 26.66 on back and 31.18 on breast. Even Lochte, the 2008 Olympic champion in the 200 back, didn’t split sub-27 on the backstroke leg of his race.
Split Comparison
| Lochte, 2012 | Marchand, Shanghai |
Marchand, Singapore
|
| 23.71 | 23.59 | 23.76 |
| 50.74 (27.03) | 50.88 (27.29) | 50.42 (26.66) |
| 1:22.48 (31.74) | 1:22.74 (31.86) | 1:21.60 (31.18) |
| 1:49.63 (27.15) | 1:50.30 (27.56) | 1:48.88 (27.28) |
RACE VIDEO
Lochte was previously the only swimmer in history to break 1:50, and now Marchand joins him, skipping right over the 1:49s into 1:48 territory in the process.
All-Time Performers, Men’s 200 IM (SCM)
- Leon Marchand (FRA), 1:48.88 – 2024
- Ryan Lochte (USA), 1:49.63 – 2012
- Matt Sates (RSA), 1:50.15 – 2022
- Shain Casas (USA), 1:50.37 – 2022
- Kosuke Hagino (JPN), 1:50.47 – 2024
The 22-year-old Marchand had come agonizingly close to breaking Lochte’s world record in the LCM 200 IM this past summer at the Olympics in Paris, clocking 1:54.06 en route to gold while falling just shy of Lochte’s 2011 mark of 1:54.00.
The other record Marchand owns in meters is the LCM 400 IM record, which took off the hands of Michael Phelps last summer at the 2023 World Championships.
Marchand is also the fastest swimmer in history in the 200 IM in the short course yards pool, having produced a time of 1:36.34 at the 2023 NCAA Championships.
In winning the event in Singapore, Marchand completed the Triple Crown in the 200 IM, having swept it at all three legs of the series. He did the same in the 100 IM on Thursday, and will look to finish off the triple medley sweep on Saturday in the 400 IM.
Great Britain’s Duncan Scott was the runner-up to Marchand in a time of 1:51.14, falling just short of his British Record of 1:50.98 set last year.
In addition to the 400 IM, Marchand is also entered in the 200 free and 200 breast on the final day of racing in Singapore, so it’s possible he’s in the field in one of those races. He raced the 200 breast in Shanghai, placing 4th in a time of 2:02.99.
.4 second faster 2nd leg than a gold medalist and former wr holder in 200 back… that’s legit amazing.
I think he did a great swim and is awesome but the idea that 12 years later he destroyed a record is a little hyperbole. There was a section of time that Ryan was pretty unbeatable. He had that horrendous accident when the fan hurt him and he was never the same. I think it hurt his breastroke because that’s where he started having issues. Who knows what he would have done if not injured by some careless fan. Also Ryan totally loved his fans and was always out there interacting with them Never complained if he got beat. Always a class act. And if you are going to point out the fiasco in Rio what about Dawn Fraser swimming… Read more »
Lochte was always a class act? Your dawn Fraser whataboutism has 0 relevance to your bogus claim.
If we remove Milak, the only opponent in the other specialties is the stopwatch.
1:45.9 loading
And…there’s still room for him to drop.
His first back and free breakouts were a bit late as well as a bit long into the back/breast turn. So, it’s crazy to think what he could go with a “perfect swim”.
Well that was quick…
Swimming has at least 2 generational male athletes now: Leon Marchand and Pan Zhanle.
Then there’s Dressel, Milak, Peaty, Finke, Ceccon, Qin, who all hold active LCM WRs. It could be argued that any or all of them are generational athletes. Did I miss anyone?
Popovici will also be in the conversation if he can find another gear and take down Biedermans 200m or pose a serious challenge to Pan’s 100m WR.
Gauging only LCM performance here not SCY or SCM
If we’re talking bout peak form Dressel, Milak, and Peaty are in the generational tier as well.
I agree. Finke is on the same level too with his 1500m free WR and numerous gold medals. Qin still has a lot to prove as well as Ceccon. They have marginal WRs in one event but nothing else to really show for it. Qin was off form in Paris so that’s a bit of a strike. At least Popovici won a gold even if the time was average for him. Perhaps there’s a Russian I am missing who should be in the conversation too were they not banned.
McEvoy could also be in the conversation if he breaks the supersuited 50free WR
Generational in their event/events. Not generational in the sense of ‘best swimmer in a generation’
Some of the untouchable supersuited records gave us a criteria for generational swimmers. 50/200/400/800 free and 200back are still on the table. 400free appears to be the softest of these so perhaps not as untouchable as the others.
Looks like Phelps and Lochte record are going away quickly.
The Phelps Lochte era is way gone.
Odd take, Phelps has been off the individual books for little while now, but Lochtes LCM survived Marchand in Paris.