{"id":597235,"date":"2024-10-07T05:41:03","date_gmt":"2024-10-07T12:41:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=597235"},"modified":"2024-10-08T18:49:25","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T01:49:25","slug":"marchand-record-mania-to-continue-frenchman-sets-sights-on-short-course-meters","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/marchand-record-mania-to-continue-frenchman-sets-sights-on-short-course-meters\/","title":{"rendered":"Marchand Record Mania to Continue? Frenchman Sets Sights on Short Course Meters"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marchand Record Mania to Continue? Frenchman Sets Sights on Short Course Meters<\/strong><\/p>\n

World records in short course meters swimming often lack the credibility of their long course counterparts, largely because of elite swimmers eschewing opportunities to race in the 25-meter course. European swimmers typically contest plenty of short course meters meets in the fall, but swimmers from the United States hardly ever do; Michael Phelps <\/strong>and Katie Ledecky<\/strong>, widely considered the two best swimmers ever for their respective genders, have each raced in less than five meets in the format in their entire careers.<\/p>\n

Confused why a particular world record has lasted so long? It\u2019s probably because many of the main global players in the event have totally sat out the last few years of international SCM competitions.<\/p>\n

That will change this fall as Olympic medalists relieved of pressure to focus on long-course swimming turn their attention to the upcoming World Cup series and December\u2019s Short Course World Championships in Budapest. A world record onslaught could be incoming, with one of the swimmers best suited to short course leading the way.<\/p>\n

The world saw at the Paris Games<\/a> just how much talent Leon Marchand<\/strong> has, with Marchand storming to gold in four individual events<\/a>. But before that, his three-year NCAA career at Arizona State University proved definitively that he\u2019s even better in short course. Of course, the college competition was in yards, but expect those results to carry over to the slightly-longer format preferred internationally.<\/p>\n

\"Leon

Leon Marchand — Photo Courtesy: Andrea Staccioli \/ Deepbluemedia \/ Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n

For instance, compare Marchand\u2019s record-setting swims in the 400 IM in 2023. At the World Championships in July, he broke Phelps\u2019 long course world record with a time of 4:02.50<\/a> while defeating silver-medal-winning American Carson Foster<\/strong> by four seconds. But when Marchand had clocked his insane time of 3:28.82 in the yards equivalent event earlier that year, Foster had finished more than seven seconds back.<\/p>\n

Marchand finished his college years with the fastest times ever in yards in both individual medley events, the 200 breaststroke<\/a> and 500 freestyle. He contested the latter event at a championship meet for the first time during the 2023-24 college season, and he blasted the existing quickest mark ever by four seconds<\/a>. Kieran Smith<\/strong> won freestyle medals at both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, but Marchand made Smith\u2019s previous top time look silly.<\/p>\n

With the Sun Devils, Marchand also swam the fastest 100-yard breaststroke split ever, and he was the first man ever under 1:29 in the 200-yard free<\/a>, although he would lose the all-time record two days later when Luke Hobson<\/strong> swam two tenths faster in the individual event. The 200 fly record survived, largely because Marchand never raced it at the NCAA Championships.<\/p>\n

The 22-year-old Frenchman lacks the physical advantage of many competitors, but he deploys underwater dolphin kicks an extent never before seen in the sport. Swimmers kick out to the maximum 15 meters with regularity in events like the 100 fly and 100 back. In the 400 IM and mid-distance freestyle, though? Never \u2014 until Marchand.<\/p>\n

Well, he\u2019s heading to short course meters now, a slate of racing at World Cup<\/a> meets and Short Course Worlds giving him plenty of chances to target world records. Expect him to snatch them up, even without his usual grueling training regimen in the months after the Olympics.<\/p>\n

Compare Marchand\u2019s times from the Olympics to the existing world records in his four main events using Swimming World\u2019s<\/em> time conversion tool<\/a>. Yes, course-to-course conversions are an inexact science, but they could provide a rough estimate for what Marchand could do in SCM.<\/p>\n