Leon Marchand Obliterates 200 IM Record With Strong Start That ‘Can Change Swimming’; Lasco Sets American Mark

Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

Arizona State’s Leon Marchand came into the 2023 NCAA Division I Men’s Championships as the clear favorite in the 200 IM.

The sophomore from France was the defending champion in the event and NCAA record-holder.

But after prelims, he was a hundredth of a second behind Cal’s Destin Lasco.

How much was he saving for the finals?

It turns out, quite a bit.

Unlike the morning, Marchand was ahead after the butterfly and building speed fast. By the end of the backstroke leg he was nearly a body length ahead. After the breaststroke the only question was how fast would he be?

He touched the wall in 1:36.34, breaking his own NCAA record by more than a second.

“I was very excited because I went 38.3 without trying that much, and I was like, ‘Damn, this is going to be exciting tonight.’ I could feel the energy going up and that was pretty cool. I think I used it in my race,” Marchand said. “During the race, I just took it out pretty fast.”

Coming into the meet, the NCAA record was 1:37.69, set by Marchand at last year’s NCAA Championships.

His splits last year were: 21.42, 24.32, 28.41, 23.54.

This year: 21.09, 22.98, 27.66, 24.61.

His backstroke leg was nearly a second and a half faster than last year.

“I tried to do it 50 by 50, so like a 50 fly, then a 50 back,” Marchand said. “I have improved a lot in my power. The main thing was my backstroke. I was 22.9 and that used to be my weakest stroke. I was a little tired in breaststroke and the freestyle was pretty hard. I wanted to do my best. I think that was a success. Before I was scared of not finishing, but you build this confidence by training hard. I have been able to take it out faster every race. We can change swimming by taking it out faster than we think.”

Marchand is the first repeat winner in the 200 IM since Texas’ Will Licon in 2016-17. Only Licon and Ryan Lochte have been repeat champions in the event since 2000.

Completely lost in Marchand’s performance was Cal’s Destin Lasco went a 1:38.10 to break Caeleb Dressel‘s American record in the event.

Putting Marchand’s feat into perspective is extremely difficult. For the lay-swim-fans, he was much faster than Dressel, but then again, he broke Dressel’s NCAA record last year.

But just five years ago, only ONE person had ever gone UNDER 1:40.

“I don’t think there is a limit to it,” Marchand said. “I have been watching a lot of Caeleb Dressel races. I love the way he swims his races. I am trying to focus on underwaters like he does.”

Dressel had his huge record-breaking performances at the same pool in Minnesota. Marchand like the venue.

“It is definitely a fast pool. I did a 600 warmup, and I was like, ‘Damn, that was good.’ Definitely fast.”

Marchand was coming off of the fastest relay split in history in the 800 free relay after going a 22.2 split in the breaststroke in the 200 medley relay.

“I like to do different races in one afternoon,” Marchand said. “I was very excited by the relay. I was far from Carson (Foster), but I was too far. But I felt so good that race.”

Marchand is working on dealing with the spotlight, something that will definitely brighten next year with the Olympics in Paris.

“It is a hard task. Everyone is doing stuff about me. But I have been improving a lot. I am not watching any social media. I need to get better for Paris next year,” he said.

Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez was third (1:39.00) and Texas junior Carson Foster was fourth (1:39.93).

Stanford sophomore Ron Polonsky took fifth in 1:40.62, followed by NC State’s Aresnio Bustos (1:40.63), Texas A&M freshman Baylor Nelson (1:40.88) and Texas senior Jake Foster (1:41.03).

In the B final, Arizona State scored some more points going 9-10-11 behind Grant House, David Schlict and Hubert Kos.

Event 4  Men 200 Yard IM
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 1:37.69  3/24/2022 Leon Marchand, Arizona St
         Meet: M 1:37.69  3/24/2022 Leon Marchand, Arizona St
     American: A 1:38.13  2/15/2018 Caeleb Dressel, Florida
   U. S. Open: O 1:37.69  3/24/2022 Leon Marchand, Arizona St
         Pool: P 1:38.32  3/23/2023 Destin Lasco, California
    Name                 Year School            Prelims     Finals Points 
=========================================================================
                       === Championship Final ===                        
 
  1 Marchand, Leon         SO ASU               1:38.33    1:36.34N  20  
    r:+0.66  21.09        44.07 (22.98)
        1:11.73 (27.66)     1:36.34 (24.61)
  2 Lasco, Destin          JR California        1:38.32    1:38.10A  17  
    r:+0.65  21.53        45.97 (24.44)
        1:14.79 (28.82)     1:38.10 (23.31)
  3 Gonzalez de Oliveira,  5Y California        1:40.57    1:39.00   16  
    r:+0.63  22.10        46.45 (24.35)
        1:15.04 (28.59)     1:39.00 (23.96)
  4 Foster, Carson         JR Texas             1:40.56    1:39.93   15  
    r:+0.63  21.58        45.84 (24.26)
        1:15.02 (29.18)     1:39.93 (24.91)
  5 Polonsky, Ron          SO Stanford          1:41.14    1:40.62   14  
    r:+0.66  22.11        46.70 (24.59)
        1:15.54 (28.84)     1:40.62 (25.08)
  6 Bustos, Arsenio        SO NC State          1:40.24    1:40.63   13  
    r:+0.65  21.50        46.69 (25.19)
        1:15.90 (29.21)     1:40.63 (24.73)
  7 Nelson, Baylor         FR TAMU              1:41.01    1:40.88   12  
    r:+0.61  22.00        46.96 (24.96)
        1:15.97 (29.01)     1:40.88 (24.91)
  8 Foster, Jake           SR Texas             1:41.52    1:41.03   11  
    r:+0.65  21.96        47.88 (25.92)
        1:16.42 (28.54)     1:41.03 (24.61)
 
                        === Consolation Final ===                        
 
  9 House, Grant           5Y ASU               1:41.64    1:41.35    9  
    r:+0.63  21.48        46.56 (25.08)
        1:16.64 (30.08)     1:41.35 (24.71)
 10 Schlicht, David        SO ASU               1:41.80    1:41.50    7  
    r:+0.64  22.43        47.83 (25.40)
        1:16.58 (28.75)     1:41.50 (24.92)
 11 Kos, Hubert            FR ASU               1:41.83    1:41.61    6  
    r:+0.60  21.75        46.55 (24.80)
        1:16.56 (30.01)     1:41.61 (25.05)
 12 Izzo, Giovanni         5Y NC State          1:41.78    1:41.65    5  
    r:+0.65  21.25        45.57 (24.32)
        1:15.37 (29.80)     1:41.65 (26.28)
 13 Khosla, Raunak         SR Princeton         1:42.00    1:41.69    4  
    r:+0.61  22.44        48.82 (26.38)
        1:17.43 (28.61)     1:41.69 (24.26)
 14 Corbeau, Caspar        SR Texas             1:42.33    1:42.33    3  
    r:+0.66  22.40        48.46 (26.06)
        1:17.49 (29.03)     1:42.33 (24.84)
 15 Coll Marti, Carles     JR VT                1:41.64    1:42.56    2  
    r:+0.62  22.22        47.35 (25.13)
        1:17.09 (29.74)     1:42.56 (25.47)
 16 Smith, Julian          SO Florida           1:42.08    1:42.79    1  
    r:+0.63  21.68        47.85 (26.17)
        1:17.74 (29.89)     1:42.79 (25.05)
 
                  Men - Team Rankings - Through Event 4                  
 
  1. Texas                             122   2. California                        117
  3. Arizona St                        114   4. NC State                          101
  5. Florida                            86   6. Indiana                            58
  7. Stanford                           52   8. Auburn                             43
  9. Louisville                         42  10. Georgia                            36
 11. Alabama                            26  11. Tennessee                          26
 13. Virginia                           22  14. Texas A&M                          20
 15. Wisconsin                          19  16. Notre Dame                         17
 17. Virginia Tech                      10  18. Missouri                            6
 19. Michigan                            4  19. Princeton                           4
 21. Georgia Tech                        3  22. Ohio St                             2

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