Leon Marchand Named World Male Swimmer of the Year For Third Consecutive Year
The reign of King Leon continues. Leon Marchand is yet again the top male swimmer in the world, and he adds World Male Swimmer of the Year honors for 2025 after previously capturing the honor in 2023 and 2024. Marchand captured the award decisively on the basis of his performances at the World Championships in Singapore, where he added his third world titles in both the 200 and 400 individual medley.
One year after thrilling a home crowd at the Paris Olympics with four gold medals, becoming only the fourth man after Mark Spitz and Michael Phelps to pull off such an accomplishment, Marchand opted for a pared down program at this year’s Worlds. He opted out of the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke to focus on the medleys, with one clear target in mind: the world record in the 200 IM.
Marchand had narrowly missed that mark in the Olympic final, coming in six hundredths behind the 2011 time posted by Ryan Lochte. That race had been Marchand’s fourth individual final and 11th race overall in Paris, so he wanted a chance to show off his skills while fresh. Indeed, Marchand came out swinging in the semifinal round. He jumped well under world-record pace after the butterfly, and his usual sensational breaststroke leg put him an incredible two seconds clear of Lochte’s time.
Marchand held on during the freestyle leg to finish in 1:52.69 and annihilate the previous mark. The performance was one of only two long course world records in men’s swimming in 2025.
“I actually can’t really believe it right now. I knew I was going to get close to my PB 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,” Marchand said after his record-breaking performance. “It’s a whole second, and it’s still hard to believe.”
Leon Marchand — Photo Courtesy: Emily Cameron
One day later, Marchand earned gold in the event in 1:53.68, still much quicker than the previous world record. On the final day of competition, Marchand barely qualified for the 400 IM final in seventh position, but at night, he showed off his usual dominant form in swimming’s most grueling event. He finished in 4:04.73, the fifth-fastest mark in history, to defeat the field by three-and-a-half seconds.
Less than 45 minutes later, Marchand had one other medal to chase. He reprised his role as the breaststroker on France’s 400 medley relay and split 58.44, the third-quickest split in the field. He joined with teammates Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Maxime Grousset and Yonn le Goff. Singapore marked only the third occasion France had won a World Championships medal in the event.
However, Marchand’s World Championships dominance in the individual medley events did not fully capture his greatness. At the U.S. Open in December, he climbed the world rankings in two further events: his 1:52.57 was the second-quickest mark of the year behind only American world champion Luca Urlando, and his enormous personal best of 3:44.70 in the 400 freestyle put Marchand at No. 9 in the rankings. The latter performance opened up the possibility of a future run at the mid-distance race along with Marchand’s likely return to his 200-meter stroke races.
The 23-year-old Frenchman would also make one appearance on the World Cup circuit in Carmel, Ind., picking up top-three finishes in the 400 free, 200 back, 200 IM and 200 breast. In his rare backstroke appearance, Marchand showed off the underwater dolphin kick skills that made him the most feared NCAA swimmer ever, and he even had the lead over Hubert Kos — his training partner and the world and Olympic champion in the 200 back — for much of that race. That tighter-than-expected showdown prompted a laugh from the Hungarian, in awe of Marchand’s multi-discipline magic.
These accomplishments made Marchand the clear choice to repeat as the world’s top male performer, even if he did not top the incredible heights of the past two years. He was the only swimmer to win multiple world titles this year and also break an individual long course world record.
Marchand’s victory makes him only the second man ever to win three consecutive World Swimmer of the Year awards. The previous swimmer in that position was Michael Phelps, victorious in 2006, 2007, 2008 and 2009. Marchand still has long way to go to catch Phelps’ lifetime total of eight wins, as the American also topped the list in 2003, 2004, 2012 and 2016. Including women, Marchand is one of four swimmers to win three straight, joining Debbie Meyer (1967-1969), Phelps and Katie Ledecky (2013-2016).
Additionally, this is the fourth consecutive year that a European swimmer has topped the charts as World Male Swimmer of the Year, and the continent continues to be dominant in men’s competition. Including Marchand, three of the five men to win multiple world titles hail from Europe. The others are Romania’s David Popovici (100 and 200 free) and Marchand’s French countryman Maxime Grousset (50 and 100 fly), and both were among the top-five finishers for this year.