At Arizona State’s dual meet with UNLV last weekend, French phenom Leon Marchand completed an insane triple. The NCAA and U.S. Open record holder in the 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM, Marchand showed off his versatility throughought the home meet.
First, he ripped a 1:39.65 in the 200 butterfly, which is less than a tenth away from his lifetime best 1:39.57 from last November’s NC State Invitational. 20 minutes later, he followed that swim up with a 1:39.64 in the 200-yard backstroke.
That swim is a best time for him; it’s a a three-second drop :42.82 from last October’s dual meet against Wisconsin.
Courtesy: Poolside Perspective (via Youtube)
Marchand’s Splits
| 200 Fly | 200 Back | |
| 50 | 23.18 | 22.78 |
| 100 | 48.41 (25.23) | 47.38 (24.60) |
| 150 | 1:14.20 (25.79) | 1:12.88 (25.50) |
| 200 | 1:39.65 (25.45) | 1:39.64 (26.76) |
No other swimmer in the NCAA has broken 1:40 in either event so far this season. In fact, only one swimmer achieved the feat last year: Indiana’s Brendan Burns, who went 1:38.97 in the 200 fly and 1:38.22 in the 200 back.
At one point in February 2023, Marchand held an NCAA-leading time in seven different events. It’s only October and he’s already at five. From two dual meets, he leads the NCAA in the 200 fly, 200 back, 200 breast, 200 IM, and 400 IM.
In addition, he joins Shaine Casas in the exclusive club of swimmers who have broken 1:40 in the 200 free/back/fly/IM. And he’s the only one of the two who’s also been under 1:50 in the 200 breaststroke.
Marchand followed up these two swims with a 3:37.96 400 IM, winning this third individual event of the meet and continuing his undefeated streak.
ABOUT LIVEBARN
LiveBarn is the global leader in live streaming of amateur and youth sporting events and is the official supplier of live and on-demand video streaming services for swimming pools utilized by USA Swimming member clubs. LiveBarn works directly with USA Swimming clubs to install their Live Streaming technology in pools across the country. LiveBarn is installed in over 1,200 venues broadcasting over 2,700 streams with additional partners added weekly. As a global company, they provide live streaming from US, Canada, Sweden and Israel, broadcasting swimming, ice hockey, baseball, basketball/volleyball and soccer. To learn more, please visit livebarn.com.
FOLLOW LIVEBARN
LiveBarn is a SwimSwam partner.
Didn’t he also have the fastest 100 back in the NCAA last season before conference meets? His versatility still continues to astound me.
He improved his backstroke tremendously last year
My mistake. Corbeau was :50.23, as was Dillon HIllis of Florida. The :50.17 was from Denis Petrashov on a Louisville relay disqualified because Denis was -0.14 early on his take-off.
And before any of the described swims, he opened the meet with a :50.47 100
breast split on the medley relay. At the 2023 NCAA meet the fastest split, aside from Leon’s :49.23 was the :50.17 of Caspar Corbeau, Texas.