{"id":620010,"date":"2025-08-03T05:19:19","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T12:19:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=620010"},"modified":"2025-08-03T07:58:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T14:58:37","slug":"world-championships-day-eight-finals-leon-marchand-collects-third-title-in-400-im-pops-no-5-fastest-time-in-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-day-eight-finals-leon-marchand-collects-third-title-in-400-im-pops-no-5-fastest-time-in-history\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships, Day Eight Finals: Leon Marchand Collects Third Title in 400 IM; Pops No. 5 Fastest-Time in History"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships, Day Eight Finals: Leon Marchand Collects Third Title in 400 IM; Pops No. 5 Fastest-Time in History<\/strong><\/p>\n

When the initial entries for the World Championships were released, Leon Marchand<\/strong> appeared set to duplicate his four-event program from last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris. At a home Olympics, the Frenchman was nothing short of spectacular, securing gold medals in the 200-meter breaststroke, 200 butterfly and both individual medley events.<\/p>\n

But as Worlds crept closer to their start, Marchand announced that he would focus on the 200 IM and 400 IM, interested in what he could produce in the multi-stroke events with a fresh body. The decision ultimately proved beneficial, as Marchand shredded the world record in the 200 medley in the semifinals, then followed up by winning gold in the No. 2 performance in history.<\/p>\n

On the final day of competition, Marchand destroyed the field in the 400 individual medley, packaging a performance of 4:04.73 to record the fifth-fastest effort of all-time. Marchand finished comfortably ahead of Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita<\/strong>, who backed up his Olympic silver medal with another runnerup outing, going 4:08.32. The bronze medal went to Russian Ilia<\/strong> Borodin<\/strong> in 4:09.16.<\/p>\n

The world title was Marchand’s third in the event, which matches Japan’s Daiya Seto<\/strong> (2013\/2015\/2019) for the most of all-time. Marchand’s previous gold medals in the 400 IM arrived in 2022 and 2023, the second of those crowns earned in a world-record time of 4:02.50. Marchand owns four of the five-fastest times ever.<\/p>\n

Marchand followed the 400 IM by swimming the breaststroke leg on France’s 400 medley relay, which earned the silver medal. It was not an easy double to handle.<\/p>\n

\u201cPhysically, it was really tough,” Marchand said. “I felt heavy in the water, especially at the bottom without fins. But I kept going and gave everything I had, because I really wanted to connect with my body. Afterward, it was hard to recover in just 30 minutes. But given what was at stake, I was determined to perform well in the relay with the team. In the end, I recovered well. I came out of it okay. Actually, I even feel kind of lifted by the whole experience.”<\/span><\/p>\n