Leon Marchand leads French team into World Aquatics Championships looking to gather momentum ahead of home Olympics

 

Image Source: Tom Pennington/Getty Images

After a strong eight-medal showing at last year’s World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, France has a strong team ready to repeat its success in Fukuoka before the focus shifts to the big show in Paris 2024.

 

All Eyes on Leon Marchand and His Bid at History

Last year’s swimmer of the meet at the World Aquatics Championships was Leon Marchand, who won both the 200m and 400m IM and was also the silver medalist in the 200m butterfly. Marchand drew a lot of attention with his 400m IM swim on opening night when he swam the second fastest time in history with his 4:04.28 as he threw a serious challenge at the world record of 4:03.84 by USA’s Michael Phelps that has largely gone untouched since it was set in 2008.

Phelps has had the world record for the better part of 20 years, initially setting it in 2002 at 4:11.09, before breaking it seven more times down to where it is now. On June 27, 2023, Phelps broke the record for the longest time holding a world record in a single swimming event, giving this record added value if Marchand is able to take it down this summer.

Marchand was just three months old when Phelps first broke the world record in the 400m IM and will have all eyes in the Marine Messe on him when he lines up for the event in Fukuoka on July 23. Marchand holds the number one time in the world this year with a 4:07.80 as he will take aim at the record on night one. If he is to take down the record, it will add even more intrigue around him in the lead-up to the Paris Olympics - putting himself up there as France’s top hope for gold at a home Olympics. He has held his poise well since last year’s championships, not giving in to the pressure put on him by media outlets and fans following him. But as the days go on and the Paris Olympics near, the intrigue rises around the now 21-year-old from Toulouse.

Marchand will also be racing the 200m IM where he is the defending World champion and will take a stab at the world record set by Ryan Lochte at 1:54.00 set in 2011, where he was 1:55 last year in winning the World title. In March, he set the short course yards venue aflame at the NCAA Championships when he put together one of the best strings of swims across three and a half days, swimming the fastest time in history in both IMs plus the 200y breaststroke as well as the fastest relay split in the 200y freestyle and the 100y breaststroke. In the long course, Marchand is ranked number one in the world this year in the 400m IM and the 200m breaststroke and second in the world in the 200m IM behind China’s Wang Shun.

Overall, Marchand is the hottest swimmer in the world right in terms of the intrigue surrounding how fast he can swim. He is slated to take on a big program in Fukuoka but has hinted he may drop the 200m breaststroke from his line-up to focus on the 200m butterfly and 200m IM finals on consecutive nights as he also looks to be one of the gold medal favourites after Kristof Milak announced he was not going to compete at the meet.

Marchand will also be heavily relied upon in relays for the French team in Fukuoka as the men’s medley has emerged as a strong medal contender thanks to the rise of Maxime Grousset on the butterfly leg.