Looking at Léon Marchand enter the first with his golden glasses, Thursday, July 31, in the waters of Singapore Hub sports, the question was not so much to know if the Toulousain was going to touch the wall first on arrival. But rather to see if his time would still be lower than that made the day before, when the French had dumbfounded his neighbors of water in the semi-finals, placing a second and 31 hundredths (1′52”69) the world record for the American Ryan Lochte, which dates from 2014.
The “King Leon” was certainly less supersonic in the final of the 200 m four swimming. The fact remains that by swallowing his four lengths in 1′53′’68, he signed the second best performance in history, and especially offered himself a third consecutive world crown on the distance, in front of his two friends, his training partners in the United States, the American Shaine Casas (1′54 something) and the Hungarian Hubert Kos (1′55′’34).
Casas even remained astonishment for a long time in his radars, ending with a better time than the personal record of Michael Phelps. For once, the Frenchman seemed less easy. “I knew it was going to be hard, because I slept very badly last night. I was completely excited, I had a lot of adrenaline, admitted the Toulousain outboard. I tried to read, to calm myself down, but it was not easy. I had a flood of constant thoughts. […] I took melatonin to fall asleep quickly … Impossible. I missed the train. “
The Texan has nevertheless arrived on the long necklace, offering the public a valve at four controlled, without false note. Here he is now holding six global crowns, including three consecutive on this distance.
First part of the mission accomplished for the hero of the Olympic Games, who landed in Asia with few bearings, but assured and confident. The brain put back to the place, after a post-two-stage saws.
He first had to confront the unknown, with this new status of superstar of the tricolor sport, a planetary phenomenon of basins with four Olympic titles, fueling the collective trance throughout the country last summer. Under these conditions, how do we take up the course of his existence, while preparing the rest?
“It’s a little bit different from others”, Recognizes Nicolas Castel, his historic coach in Toulouse, who has been following him since he had, alongside his other coach Bob Bowman, in the United States. “After the games, there was a period when it was a little more complicated to resume training. So we had to give him time to take advantage, regenerate, rest. ”
Léon Marchand took his time. He landed to think about a tailor-made, shortened preparation, targeting a limited number of competitions. He focused his early 2025 working around his two weak points: the crawl and the back. With this quest for world record in 200 m four swimming in line. Reinforced quest at the beginning of November, when he seized the Lochte record, already in Singapore, but in a small basin (25 m instead of 50 m, 1′48′’88 against 1′49′’63 in 2012).
A semblance of recovery. At the time, general fatigue catches up with him. The quadruple Olympic champion then decides to go into exile. He takes a ticket for Australia. He stayed there three months, including part of the time in Brisbane, between discovery of the country and surfing sessions on the Gold Coast. We also see him in the spans in Melbourne for the final of the Tennis Open, or in the Paddocks of the Formula 1 Grand Prix. The Toulousain did not only have tourism: he also plunged under the orders of Dean Boxall, a sort of Philippe Lucas National, who shaped Australians Ariarne Titmus or Mollie O’Callaghan, today two queens global swimming.
In reality, “It was not really a break” In Australia, corrects Castel. “It was not” beach and sun “, the idea was to go see a little what is happening elsewhere in the world of swimming, because there is not only one way of doing things. It is sometimes to explore other things. He trained and resumed a physical form quite quickly. ”
Returned to the spring in the Texan Piscines, he then selected three recovery races with his team. Rare fact: the French Swimming Federation exempted it from a participation in the French Championships in mid-May, thus avoiding an exhausting round trip, with these media and popular annex solicitations which are gaining energy. A kind of thank you for service rendered to the nation.
Léon Marchand returns it to the FFN this week. He can now prepare calmly for the third part of his plan: keep his title on 400 m four swimming. A distance which he also holds the best global chrono, a record he had won at the last worlds of Fukuoka, in 2023. Bis repeat on Sunday?
Updated At 6 p.m. with more context.