Paris Olympics, Day 6 Prelims: Leon Marchand Eases Through Opening Round of 200 IM; Looking to Join Elite Club

Paris Olympics, Day 6 Prelims: Leon Marchand Eases Through Opening Round of 200 IM; Looking to Join Elite Club

Three checkmarks have already been applied to the to-do list of Leon Marchand at the Olympic Games in Paris. Gold in the 400-meter individual medley? Done. A title in the 200 butterfly? Complete. Victory in the 200 breaststroke? Handled. All that separates the French superstar from history is the 200 individual medley, which Marchand casually worked through on Thursday morning at La Defense Arena.

Coming off a gold-medal double from the previous night, the 22-year-old cruised through the prelims of the 200 medley in 1:57.86, which was good for second in his heat and third overall. Marchand exerted minimal energy over his four laps and will have the luxury of pacing the evening’s semifinals, too. Such is the cushion Marchand maintains through his versatility.

A two-time world champion in the event, Marchand is the heavy favorite to capture gold. If successful, that would give the Frenchman four titles in Paris, making him one of four swimmers in history to achieve that feat. The legendary Michael Phelps pulled it off twice, winning five solo crowns in 2008 to go with four in 2004. Meanwhile, Mark Spitz was a quadruple individual champion in 1972 and East Germany’s Kristin Otto won four solo events in 1988. However, when the Berlin Wall crumbled in 1989, Otto was revealed to be part of the East German systematic doping program.

Racing in the third of four preliminary heats, Marchand was edged by Great Britain’s Duncan Scott, who stopped the clock in 1:57.77. The reigning Olympic silver medalist in the 200 IM, Scott pressed the freestyle leg considerably more than Marchand, evident in their closing splits of 28.39 and 28.97. Scott will be the second seed for the semifinals, trailing only Japan’s Daiya Seto, who had the quickest time of the morning, an effort of 1:57.48. Seto was the 2019 world champion in the 200 IM.

Defending Olympic champion Wang Shun of China advanced with the sixth-fastest time, as his mark of 1:58.09 was behind the 1:58.00 of Italian Alberto Razzetti and the 1:58.04 of American Shaine Casas. The other U.S. swimmer in the field, Carson Foster was 10th in 1:58.63, which was good enough to win the first of the circle-seeded heats.

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