Meet the 21-year-old French swimmer who just smashed Michael Phelps' world record by more than 1 second
Reena Koh
- Léon Marchand broke Michael Phelps' record at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships on Sunday.
- The 21-year-old French swimmer beat the long-standing record by 1.34 seconds.
French swimmer Léon Marchand beat Michael Phelps' long-standing 15-year record at the Fukuoka 2023 World Aquatics Championships on Sunday.
The 21-year-old won in the men's 400m individual medley (IM) with a record of 4:02.50, shattering Phelps' last-standing individual world record at the 2008 Beijing Olympics by a whopping 1.34 seconds. American swimmer Carson Foster came in second, clocking 4.06 seconds behind Marchand.
"That was insane, one of the most painful things I've done. It was amazing to do it here and the time is crazy," said Marchand, per the Olympics, "the best is yet to come." Marchand was presented with the gold medal by Phelps at the victory ceremony.
Here's what you should know about the new world record holder.
Toulouse-born Léon Marchand has a history of setting new records.
Last year, on June 19, Marchand set a new European record of 4:04.28 in the 400m IM at the World Championships in Budapest.
The next day, the prodigy set a new French record, clocking 1:53.37 in the 200m IM prelims before clinching his second world title of the competition a day later.
His father, Xavier Marchand, is a former medley swimmer.
Xavier competed at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympic games, coming in eighth and seventh place in the 200m IM, respectively. He clinched the 200m IM silver at the 1998 World Championships. Now, 24 years later, his son surpassed his record.
Marchand, who's currently a sophomore at Arizona State University, majors in Computer Science and is a member of the school's Sun Devils swim team.
The Toulouse native quit swimming for two years back when he was seven because "the pool was just awful," Marchand told Arizona State University News.
Before swimming for ASU as part of the Sun Devils, Marchand was formerly coached by Nicolas Castel, swimming coach for Les Dauphins du TOEC, a swimming sports club based in Toulouse, France.
Marchand's parents had encouraged his move to the US after seeing his extraordinary potential as a young swimmer. He qualified for the Olympics at 18, per ASU. But it was because of Bob Bowman that he chose to study at AUS.
"I knew I could trust him every day," Marchand said about Bowman to ASU.
Coach Bowman's previous protege was Michael Phelps.
"I was like 'you know Léon right now is reminding me of Michael in like 2003.' His fitness level is so high that he can produce really fast times with a high volume of training," Bowman said on a podcast with SwimSwam in January this year.
Though the 58-year-old never swam professionally, South Carolina-born Bowman is best-known for being the coach of 23-time gold medalist swimmer Michael Phelps.
Bowman also commented on Marchand's learning speed compared to Phelps in a separate interview.
"This is probably the event that you need the most experience to swim," said Bowman about the 200 freestyle in June, per SwimSwam.
"When Michael was swimming it, I had him swim it every meet. It took him 2 years to be able to do a really good one," said Bowman, per SwimSwam.
"Leon has only swum it 4 or 5 times, so he's getting better and that's the first time he's swam it really well," said Bowman after Marchand's second French national title, per SwimSwam.
The 2024 Olympic Games will be held in Paris, a chance for Marchand to really bring it home.
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