NCAA Swim of the Year (Male): Before World Record Heroics, Leon Marchand Dazzles in Short Course Yards
His efforts at this summer’s World Championships earned Leon Marchand the clear title of world’s top swimmer. On day one of the Fukuoka meet, he broke the 400-meter IM world record set by Michael Phelps at the 2008 Olympics, and he went on to win gold medals in the 200 butterfly and 200 IM as well. The 21-year-old Frenchman owns an advantage over the rest of the world in all four legs of the longer medley race, but the crazy thing is that he’s even better in short course.
Marchand’s three world titles this year were in addition to a pair of golds plus one silver at the 2022 meet, but he is actually more dominant in short course, especially the yards format in which American collegiate swimming is contested. At this year’s NCAA Men’s Championships in Minneapolis, Marchand swam the fastest times ever in all three of his events, crushing the previous records each time, and for good measure, he also posted the fastest split in the field in the 800 freestyle relay and the quickest breaststroke splits ever as part of Arizona State’s 200 and 400 medley relays.
His signature moment came in the 400 IM, when Marchand made quick work of the worthy rivals swimming on either side, defending national champion Hugo Gonzalez and World Championships silver medalist Carson Foster. After only 100 yards, Marchand was nine tenths ahead of the field. At the halfway point, his advantage over Foster was almost three seconds, a notable development when Foster had beaten Marchand to the halfway point when the two had raced in meters at the prior year’s Worlds.
And on breaststroke, Marchand opened the lead up to six seconds with a 58.59 split, by far the quickest in history. From there, he sailed home, with Gonzalez and Foster in his wake some 10 meters adrift.
The season began with Gonzalez holding the NCAA and U.S. Open records at 3:32.88, but Marchand had already beaten the mark twice, first when he swam a time of 3:31.84 in a January dual meet against Gonzalez’s Cal Golden Beas, then when he went 3:31.57 at the Pac-12 Championships. Those swims prior to the championship meet suggested that Marchand might swim the first-ever sub-3:30 performance, which would be quite a feat considering the record just over one year earlier had belonged to Chase Kalisz at 3:33.42.
Indeed, Marchand reached the 3:20s, skipping over 3:29 to post a draw-dropping time of 3:28.82. At a meet when Marchand broke the 200 IM NCAA record by more than one second (1:36.34) and lowered the 200 breaststroke mark by exactly one second (1:46.91), the 400 IM was the transcendent moment that defined legendary collegiate performance.
I believe his split on the 4×200 free wasn’t just the fastest in THAT field; it was, like his breaststroke splits, the fastest split EVER(1:28.42). In one 3 1/2 day meet, he had 6 swims across 6 different stroke and distance combinations (3 different breaststroke distances, 2 different IMs, and 1 freestyle) faster than any EVER PERFORMED — three individual and three from a relay start … and crowned, in some sense, by what was likely the fastest split ever in ANOTHER stroke, the backstroke leg of the 200 IM(:22.98, no one else in this field even under 24 seconds; 200 LCM Back World Champion Hubert Kos’ fastest :24.47[prelim] and 2x 200 Back NCAA Champion Destin Lasco’s fastest :24.10[prelim]), the stroke which had been by far Marchand’s worst when he came to the US. Absolute domination in his weakest skill/stroke.
And though not quite as impressive as his earlier performances, his 7th swim in those 3 1/2 days was the 2nd fastest split of the 4 x 100 Free relay in the lane between Florida and Cal, at :40.55 on the second leg, entering the water 1.23 behind Florida(Adam Chaney on 2nd leg) and 0.39 back from Cal, whose Fukuoka Silver Medalist Jack Alexy was on their 2nd leg and swam the event’s fastest split at :40.51. While Leon’s swim was not quite the fastest, he may in fact have set an all time mark, if such things could be objectively measured, for the most turbulence swum through in a championship heat!
Pretty good meet for a French Sun Devil. After following the NCAA, US Nationals and Trials, Pan-Pacifics, Europeans, Commonwealth, Olympics, LCM Worlds and SCM Worlds, and more, pretty closely for the last 60 years, I’m pretty confident in saying it was the best single meet any swimmer in that time has ever had, with only Spitz Munich, Phelps Bejing and Dressell Spring 2018 even that close. Period.
I agree! With Leon performing at such a high level, and Hubert Kos has developed into a new NCAA and international threat, and an the rapid development of Ilya Khrun, plus a strong supporting cast, ASU is going to do very well in NCAAs!
And amazing to think all that was without any of those accomplishments referencing the only individual stroke in which he is World Champion (200 Fly, LCM). Versatility on a new level.