Leon Marchand Shows Off Versatility With 44.77 100 Back, #1 Time In The Country

Arizona State vs. Arizona

  • Saturday, February 4, 2023
  • SCY (25 yards)
  • Mona Plummer Aquatic Center, Tempe, Arizona
  • Live Results Under “Arizona State vs. Arizona” on MeetMobile

Remember the days when Leon Marchand‘s backstroke times were a step behind his times in other strokes? Well, those days are over, because the Arizona State sophomore just swam a 44.77 in the 100 back at the ASU vs. Arizona dual meet, beating out Kacper Stokowski‘s 44.79 by 0.02 seconds to set the top time in the country for the 2022-23 NCAA season.  This swim was a big drop for Marchand, whose personal best coming into Saturday was a 46.14 from November 2021.

Marchand now leads the country in seven different events this NCAA season.

Leon Marchand, Nation-Leading Times, 2022-23 NCAA season:

  • 100 back: 44.77
  • 100 breast: 51.01
  • 200 breast: 1:48.82
  • 200 fly: 1:39.57
  • 200 IM: 1:38.89
  • 400 IM: 3:31.84 (NCAA record)
  • 500 free: 4:07.81

Top Times, Men’s 100-Yard Back, 2022-23 NCAA season:

  1. Leon Marchand, ASU — 44.77
  2. Kacper Stokowski, NC State — 44.79
  3. Destin Lasco, Cal — 44.88
  4. Bjorn Seeliger, Cal — 45.23
  5. Nate Stoffle, Auburn — 45.26

Since 2021, Marchand has improved substantially on both ends of his race. His first 50 got 0.61 seconds faster, while his last 50 got 0.77 seconds faster.

Comparative Splits:

Leon Marchand, 2021 Leon Marchand, 2023
50y 22.32 21.72
100y 23.82 23.05
Total 46.14 44.77

In Marchand’s race, his teammates Owen McDonald (46.05) and Hubert Kos (47.15) finished over a second behind him. McDonald set a personal best, dropping from his 46.20 swam at midseasons, while Kos (who was swimming just his second-ever 100 back race) was just 0.08 seconds off his own.

Later on in the meet, Marchand swam a 4:07.81 in the 500 free, which makes him the fifth-fastest performer of all time. He also split 23.20 on breaststroke in ASU’s 200 medley relay.

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dscott
1 year ago

Jack Dolan of ASU was :45.25 at the NC State/GAC November Invite and should thus be #5 in your ’22-’23 100 Backstroke list, surpassing Auburn’s Nate Stoffle by a hair (0.01 seconds).

Markosha
1 year ago

anybody got the video?? I know PAC 12 did a live stream, but if ya missed it is there still a way to watch it?

Swim
1 year ago

ASU is trying to figure out who to put in for NCAA and keeping everyone else guessing.

Solid move!

Snarky
1 year ago

He’s just plain dirty.

Bob
1 year ago

And they were shaved

Chad
1 year ago

This was supposed to be his off event…

Beginner Swimmer at 25
1 year ago

Every time i see this guys picture while my 3 mbps download speed internet loads I say to myself what did this Dirty Dan do this time

Swimswam follower
1 year ago

He’s probably been racing Regan in the backstrokes. Remember Chase says she’s doing the same work as the guys. Watch out I have a good feeling she’s going to be better too.

About Yanyan Li

Yanyan Li

Although Yanyan wasn't the greatest competitive swimmer, she learned more about the sport of swimming by being her high school swim team's manager for four years. She eventually ventured into the realm of writing and joined SwimSwam in January 2022, where she hopes to contribute to and learn more about …

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