SINGAPORE — Léon Marchand broke the world record in the 200-meter individual medley on Wednesday at the world championships in Singapore, clocking 1 minute, 52.61 seconds to surpass the 1:54.00 set in 2011 by American Ryan Lochte.
The Frenchman set the mark swimming in the semifinals and, in theory, could break it again in Thursday's finals.
Marchand won four Olympic gold medals a year ago in Paris, but he's swimming only the 200 and 400 medley — and relays — in Singapore. Planning the lighter schedule in what he calls a «transition year» keeps him fresh to chase the world marks.
Marchand didn't just break the 14-year-old record, he shattered it.
«What's crazy is that it's a whole second — and it's still hard to believe,» he said. «1:52 on the 200 meters — that's insane.»
Marchand will swim the 400 IM on Sunday, the final day of the world championships. He holds that record of 4:02.50 set in the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka, Japan. And it seems likely to go.
«Today I felt really good before the race,» he said. «In the water, I felt light, I was taking in a lot of water and technically everything felt clean.»
Asked about swimming a lighter schedule he replied in an understatement: «It was probably the right decision.»
Marchand was about 1.8 seconds under the world record after 150 meters and powered home with the final freestyle leg.
Though this race did not yield a world title — that will come on Thursday in the final — it did win Marchand a check for $30,000.
«In the end I went out hard from the start,» he said. «But I stayed super-relaxed. I didn't make many mistakes. I didn't realize I was going that fast but I gave it absolutely everything. Arms at full speed all the way to the wall. At that point I wasn't even thinking
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