Born to medley, Marchand closes in on Phelps

Leon Marchand arrived sooner and faster than he had expected.

The 20-year-old Frenchman swum the second fastest time in the history of the men's 400m medley on Saturday as he scorched to the title in the World Championships in Budapest.

"Now I can call myself a good swimmer," he said happily after swimming 4min 4.28sec.

The record he is chasing, 4:03.84, has an aura. It is the oldest in any Olympic distance, and was set by the legendary Michael Phelps at the Beijing Olympics in 2008 - a day before Phelps helped set the second-oldest record in the 400m freestyle relay.

On Saturday evening, after a ferocious third leg in the breaststroke, Marchand was inside world record pace before fading slightly in the freestyle.

#UPDATE 20-year-old French swimmer Leon Marchand won the 400m medley world title Saturday, narrowly missing out on beating the record held since 2008 by Michael Phelps#AFPSports #FINABudapest2022https://t.co/qFx2VprLwg

Marchand was giddy as he talked to the media.

"I really didn't think I would swim 4:04," he said.

"I hit the wall and saw the little light that said we were first. It's really huge, a 'wow' feeling. I think I still don't realise what I did today, but in any case I enjoyed it."

"I was struggling a little bit in the crawl," he said. "But I think next time I could do it."

Young Leon won his world gold 24 years after his father Xavier took silver in the 200m medley in Perth, Australia.

The son will race that event later in the championship. He is also entered in the 200m butterfly.

Leon swum those three events in Tokyo. He was sixth in the 400m medley, reached the semi-final in the fly but did not make it past the heats in the 200m medley.

Family affair

Leon's mother Celine Bonnet held the French records for