After smashing the long-standing world record in the 200m individual medley by 1.31 seconds (1 min 52.69 s) in the semifinals, it would have been a real disappointment for Léon Marchand not to claim the world title in this event. But Marchand has never been one to miss the big occasions. Twenty-four hours after electrifying the entire Olympic pool at Singapore’s Sports Hub, the French swimmer won the final on Thursday, July 31, with a more modest time than the day before (1 min 53.68 s).
“I didn’t realize I was going that fast, but I gave it absolutely everything,” he said a few minutes after setting the record on Wednesday. It was barely noticeable the next day, despite a night of insomnia replaying the race in his head. “I slept very badly, I was so excited, I still had a lot of adrenaline,” Marchand said after beating his training partners Shaine Casas (2nd, 1 min 54.30 s) and Hubert Kos (3rd, 1 min 55.35 s). In the city-state, Marchand, just 23 years old, won his sixth world title in a long-course pool, his third in the 200m medley after those in Budapest, Hungary, in 2022 and Fukuoka, Japan, in 2023.
You have 78.35% of this article left to read. The rest is for subscribers only.
