Leon Marchand Set to Return to Racing at Ft. Lauderdale Pro Series After Two Injury Setbacks

After delivering the performance of a lifetime at the Paris Olympics, where he competed in front of a home crowd, Leon Marchand took a brief break from training before resuming workouts in mid-September.

Marchand returned home to Toulouse to train under his former coach, Nicolas Castel, gradually reentering competition through a series of local meets before participating in the World Cup circuit during the fall.

The individual medley ace delivered a commanding performance throughout the World Cup series, sweeping the men’s 100, 200, and 400 IM events at all three stops in Shanghai, Incheon, and Singapore. At the final stop in Singapore, he broke the world record in the 200 IM, clocking 1:48.88 to surpass Ryan Lochte’s longstanding 2012 mark of 1:49.63.

His success across the circuit earned him the overall men’s World Cup title and a $174,000 prize.

At the end of November, Marchand announced his decision to withdraw from the Short Course World Championships in Budapest, citing fatigue following a demanding and successful year of competition. Marchand has recently opened up about an additional reason for pulling out of the meet.

“I subluxated my shoulder in December,” Marchand told L’Equipe. “But anyway… I announced that I was out of the World Championships, and I received a lot of positive messages, encouragement. I told myself that it was cool, that people understood. I was afraid of their reaction. Even though I was ready to receive criticism. I continued to train in Toulouse, I didn’t miss a day, but I didn’t want to compete, to put the tech suit back on. That wasn’t what motivated me. I preferred to prepare my trip to Australia to disappear.”

Marchand headed to Brisbane, Australia, in early 2025 to train with St. Peters Western under coach Dean Boxall, who is known for guiding top-tier athletes such as Ariarne Titmus, Mollie O’Callaghan, and Elijah Winnington. Prior to the trip, Marchand noted that he intended to place more focus on freestyle—an area of strength for all of the swimmers mentioned. He had the opportunity to train with several of them during his stay, with the likely exception of Titmus, who is currently taking a break from the sport but is planning to resume full-time training in July.

The Paris Olympic star injured himself again a few weeks later, early in his trip. “One Monday morning, I had a bit of pain in my rib. The next day, it hurt even more. On Wednesday, I went to see the physiotherapist, and they told me it should be fine. Except I kept surfing and training, thinking it was just muscle aches. In the end, it turned out to be a stress fracture on my right side. With a cracked rib, I couldn’t swim for a week. It was a bit frustrating, very disappointing.”

Marchand returned to the United States late last month and has resumed training with the Texas Pro Group at the University of Texas, under the guidance of coach Bob Bowman. The group also includes fellow Olympic champions Regan Smith and Chase Kalisz.

Having resumed training in Austin, Marchand is reportedly “eager” to return to competition, according to La Dépêche, with the Fort Lauderdale Pro Swim Series—set to take place in just over two weeks—marked as first scheduled competition.

Marchand is widely regarded as the current best male swimmer in the world following his remarkable performance at the Paris Olympics, where he went a perfect four-for-four individually in front of his home crowd under significant pressure.

He delivered the second-fastest swims in history in the 200 breast (2:05.85), 200 IM (1:54.06), and 400 IM (4:02.95), each earning him a gold medal. In the 200 fly, his time of 1:51.21 moved him to #2 all-time, behind Hungary’s Kristof Milak. All four of Marchand’s performances set new Olympic Records. In addition to ranking #1 in the world in those four events in 2024, he also split 58.62 seconds on the breaststroke leg of France’s medley relay to help them secure a bronze medal. He further ranked 11th in the world in the 100 breast with a time of 59.06.