Leon Marchand Swims Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM at Pac-12 Championships

Leon Marchand Swims Second-Fastest Time Ever in 400 IM at Pac-12 Championships

Following an impressive Olympic debut for France at the Tokyo Games, Arizona State freshman Leon Marchand has performed phenomenally in his first collegiate season, and that continued Friday evening as he scared the fastest time ever in the 400 IM at the men’s Pac-12 Championships in Federal Way, Wash. Marchand, sixth in the 400-meter IM in Tokyo, became the fourth-fastest performer ever in the 400 IM at midseason, and he cut more than a second off that time at the conference meet.

Marchand swam a time of 3:34.45, just one second off Chase Kalisz’s NCAA and U.S. Open records of 3:33.42 set at the 2017 NCAA Championships. Marchand jumped Texas sophomore Carson Foster (3:35.27) to become the second-fastest performer in history, and Marchand also surpassed the second-best effort of Kalisz’s career. His time was also almost 2.5 seconds faster than the 3:36.90 that Bobby Finke swam on his way to an NCAA title in the event in 2021.

Finishing second in the race was Cal’s Hugo Gonzalez, who swam a 3:36.54, also ahead of the winning time from last year (a meet where Gonzalez finished ninth in a time quicker than the winning time in the A-final). Gonzalez remained the fifth-fastest performer in history with his swim. Third place went to another Cal swimmer, junior Jason Louser, in 3:38.77.

Marchand will head to the NCAA Championships later this month in Atlanta as the favorite in the 400 IM, but the race shapes up as one of the meet’s most anticipated as he will have to contend with Foster, Finke and Gonzalez. Foster swam the world’s only sub-4:09 performance in the 400-meter IM last season, but his season-best mark of 3:37.35 in the yards version of the race leaves him almost three seconds behind Marchand.

Live results

Event 10  Men 400 Yard IM
=========================================================================
         NCAA: N 3:33.42  3/24/2017 Chase Kalisz, Georgia
       PAC-12: M 3:35.29  2018      Abrahm DeVine, STAN
 PAC-12 Champ: P 3:36.60  2020      Hugo Gonzalez, CAL
                 3:39.16  A Standard
                 3:51.46  B Standard
    Name           Year School            Prelims     Finals       Points 
=========================================================================
                            === A - Final ===                            
 
  1 Marchand, Leon   FR ASU               3:38.87    3:34.45MA       20  
     r:+0.53  23.02    26.51    27.89    26.42
       30.44    30.30    25.81    24.06
  2 Gonzalez, Hugo   SR CAL               3:42.55    3:36.54PA       17  
     r:+0.64  23.24    27.16    28.46    27.56
       30.22    30.01    25.31    24.58
  3 Louser, Jason    JR CAL               3:38.95    3:38.77 A       16  
     r:+0.69  23.09    26.62    27.65    27.14
       30.09    31.40    26.70    26.08
  4 Polonsky, Ron    FR STAN              3:43.08    3:39.49 B       15  
     r:+0.66  24.10    27.52    27.68    27.11
       30.09    31.10    26.34    25.55
  5 Fail, Brooks     5Y Arizona           3:43.31    3:40.75 B       14  
     r:+0.68  23.46    26.98    28.65    27.04
       32.21    32.69    25.21    24.51
  6 Grieshop, Sean   SR CAL               3:42.51    3:43.50 B       13  
     r:+0.54  23.76    27.41    28.61    28.08
       31.79    31.98    26.41    25.46
  7 Schlicht, David  JR ASU               3:43.63    3:43.53 B       12  
     r:+0.63  23.96    26.91    29.17    28.40
       31.25    31.91    26.55    25.38
  8 Roberts, Will    SR CAL               3:44.06    3:43.58 B       11  
     r:+0.68  23.64    26.89    29.17    28.52
       32.11    32.28    26.07    24.90

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