A full second. Even Leon Marchand couldn’t quite believe what Leon Marchand had just pulled off. The four-time Olympic gold medallist, who was the home hero of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games last year, returned to the global stage with a bang on Wednesday by shattering the 200 metres individual medley world record to light up day four of the world championships in Singapore.
Marchand blasted through the World Aquatics Championships Arena in one minute, 52.69 seconds in his semi-final, shaving more than 1.3 seconds off Ryan Lochte’s long-standing 1:54.00 from the 2011 event in Shanghai. “I actually can’t really believe it right now,” said Marchand. “I knew I was going to get close to my PB (personal best) because I felt really good today, and the preparation has been pretty good, so I was really excited to race. It’s unbelievable for me. What’s crazy is that it’s a whole second (ahead of Lochte). A 1:52 on the 200 — that’s insane. I’m so happy, it’s just incredible.”
Leon Marchand king of the long course individual medley 😱 #AQUASingapore25
200 IM – Lochte 2011 ➡️ Marchand 2025 ✅
400 IM – Phelps 2008 ➡️ Marchand 2023 ✅ pic.twitter.com/oHiG5qJDhn— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 30, 2025
The 23-year-old from Toulouse also owns the 400 IM world record of 4:02.50. That record, originally held by Micahel Phelps since 2008, was broken in 2023 when Marchand clocked 04:02.50 at World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka.
Exhausted after the Paris Games where he won four individual golds, Marchand skipped the short-course world championships in Hungary last December and suffered injuries before returning to the pool for the TYR Pro Series in Florida in May. He is swimming a reduced programme in Singapore, focusing on the 200 and 400 IM alone for individual events, as he works through what he calls a “transition year”. If this is his transition year, his rivals might wonder what he has in store for them in a normal season.
“I went out hard from the start, but I stayed super relaxed,” Marchand was quoted as saying World Aquatics. 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.”
“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.”
© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
