If there were any questions about what shape Leon Marchand would be in for this week’s French Championships, he quickly answered them during the opening finals session on Sunday.
The 21-year-old Arizona State star broke his own French record (2:08.76 from last summer) in the 200-meter breaststroke by more than two seconds with a winning time of 2:06.59. In the process, Marchand became the fourth-fastest performer of all-time and the second-fastest European ever.
All-Time Top Performers, Men’s 200-Meter Breaststroke
- Zac Stubblety-Cook, Australia — 2:05.95 (2022)
- Anton Chupkov, Russia —2:06.12 (2019)
- Shoma Sato, Japan — 2:06.40 (2021)
- Leon Marchand, France — 2:06.59 (2023)
- Ippei Watanabe, Japan (2017)/Matthew Wilson, Australia (2019) — 2:06.67
Leon Marchand 2:06.59 in the 200 breaststroke. This guy is definitely going to take down Phelps last remaining world record at some stage in the 400 IM. @kylesockwell @swimcoverage @NelsonCarterJr @StateOfSwimming pic.twitter.com/Wcs4xsxc7W
— Paul Griffin (@PGriffinFC) June 11, 2023
This is your LIVEBARN Race of the Week because Marchand was only .64 seconds away from the world record, according to ASU head coach Bob Bowman, “he hasn’t shaved and he’s about 50% prepared.” The craziest part? He won’t even swim the event at next month’s World Championships in order to focus on defending his 200 IM title.
In April, he said he wanted to swim the 200 breast at Worlds, but Bowman advised against it because the semifinals of the 200 breast come right before the finals of the 200 IM. However, Marchand said that he was open to racing the event at the Paris 2024 Olympic games.
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Kinda funny that the guy with the best underwaters (at least for distances over 100) in the world has breaststroke as his best stroke. That’s the one with the LEAST dolphin kicking!
It just means he’s good at pretty much anything aquatic, as you’d expect from the 400 LCM IM World Champion.