SINGAPORE — Swimming in Lane 4 of Heat 2, the 23-year-old from Toulouse surged ahead of the previous record pace during the backstroke leg and extended his lead over the breaststroke. By the finish, Marchand had shattered American Ryan Lochte’s long-standing World Record of 1:54.00 — set 14 years ago at the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai — by 1.31 seconds.
“What’s crazy is that it’s a whole second… and it’s still hard to believe. A 1:52 on the 200m — that’s insane,” said a stunned Marchand immediately after the race. “I’m so happy. It’s just incredible.”
Marchand credited the performance to his preparation and mindset.
“Today, I felt really good before the race. In the water, I felt light. Technically, everything felt clean. I had talked with Bob (Bowman) and Nico, and we agreed that tonight was the time to go for it.”
“I went out hard from the start, but I stayed super relaxed. My underwaters were hitting 15 metres every time, and I didn’t make many mistakes. I didn’t realise I was going that fast, but I gave it absolutely everything — arms at full speed to the wall.”
Image Source: Leon Marchand’s underwaters played an instrumental role to his World Record swim in the Men’s 200m IM Semi-Finals in Singapore (Adam Pretty/Getty Images)
Even in the moment immediately following her record-breaking swim, Marchand reflected on how his race strategy and strengths have evolved:
“The 100 has become my strength, which is wild, because it used to be my weak point. Over the last 50, I still had people to chase. I tried to build that last lap well and went all out. It was really tough, obviously, because I was going at such a fast pace.”
“Now I want to take a moment to think about everything, to process it all… It’s just an explosion of joy. I feel like all the choices I made this year were the right ones, and I want to thank everyone who’s been supporting me.”
Image Source: Leon Marchand of France celebrates after setting a new world record of 1:52.69 in the Men’s 200m IM Semi-Final in Singapore (Quinn Rooney/Getty Images)
Marchand – racing an abbreviated programme from the one that made him a transcendent star of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, which is focused on the 200 and 400m Individual Medleys here in Singapore – hinted that more could be in store these next days.
“Since the Games, I’ve had this goal in mind. I didn’t expect things to come together again so quickly… tomorrow’s the final, and it’s going to be great.”
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