{"id":620019,"date":"2025-08-02T19:43:13","date_gmt":"2025-08-03T02:43:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=620019"},"modified":"2025-08-03T03:51:58","modified_gmt":"2025-08-03T10:51:58","slug":"world-championships-day-8-prelims-leon-marchand-7th-in-400-im","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/world-championships-day-8-prelims-leon-marchand-7th-in-400-im\/","title":{"rendered":"World Championships, Day Eight Prelims: Leon Marchand Qualifies Seventh in 400 Medley"},"content":{"rendered":"

World Championships, Day 8 Prelims: Leon Marchand 7th in 400 IM<\/strong><\/p>\n

We\u2019ve reached the final day of the 2025 World Aquatics Championships, another chance for the trajectories of Summer McIntosh<\/strong> and Leon Marchand<\/strong> to intersect.<\/p>\n

Both the Canadian teen and the French star were the leading lights of the Paris Olympics last summer. Both IM specialists have chosen different tacks for this summer\u2019s build-up to the Singapore World Championships. McIntosh had widened her aperture, professing a desire for five gold medals at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics and using Singapore as a dry run for it. She\u2019s gone 3-for-4, the lone miss \u2013 and by any standard other than hers, bronze would not constitute a miss<\/a> \u2013 coming Saturday in the 800 freestyle behind Katie Ledecky<\/strong> and Lani Pallister.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Marchand has pulled back. After the high of Paris, he\u2019s limited himself to the IMs. The first result was a stunning world record in the 200 IM<\/a>. The aim in the 400 is the same.<\/p>\n

It didn\u2019t work great in a sluggish \u2013 and for most of the field, it seemed, disinterested \u2013 prelims in the morning at which Marchand shut it down so early that he darn near missed the final, only getting in in seventh place. He\u2019ll chase his record from an outside lane.<\/p>\n

The 400 IMs, which are typically at the beginning of the Olympic schedule, find themselves at the end of the slate at Worlds. They\u2019re the only individual prelims of the final day, which includes the men\u2019s and women\u2019s medley relay prelims to set up the final finals session Sunday night.<\/p>\n

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