Leon Marchand to Focus on Individual Medley Races in Singapore, Skip 200 Breast & 200 Fly
After capturing four gold medals at the Paris Olympics and making three trips to the medal podium at World Championships in 2022 and 2023, Leon Marchand plans to narrow his focus for next week’s Worlds in Singapore. According to a new report from Franceinfo sport, Marchand will only race the 200 IM and 400 IM (and potentially relays) while skipping the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke.
The report quoted Nicolas Castel, Marchand’s club coach in France, and Castel indicated Marchand also had the support of U.S.-based coach Bob Bowman. “It’s a choice we made because we are in a post-Olympic year and he has never had the opportunity to (compete in) a 200 medley without having a race before or after the same day,” Castel said. “He wanted to test this isolated 200 medley and see what he was capable of.”
The decision to opt out of the single-stroke events will aid in Marchand’s quest to capture the world record in the 200 IM. The mark of 1:54.00 belongs to Ryan Lochte, and it has survived since the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai. Marchand is already the world-record holder in the 400 IM at 4:02.50, and he came up just six hundredths short of Lochte’s 200 IM mark at the Paris Olympics. However, that came in his fourth and final individual event and his 11th race of the Games. Being fresh for the event could make the difference this time.
The report also suggests that Marchand could play an increased role on France’s relays in Singapore. In Paris, Marchand’s only relay action was handling the breaststroke leg of the French men’s 400 medley relay, which emerged with a bronze medal. That was the country’s first-ever medal in the medley relay. This year, Marchand could be part of that squad as well as the 800 freestyle relay and mixed 400 medley relay.
Read the original report here.
