Léon Marchand will have taken two years before putting his jersey back in a French basin. And this long wait was crowned with an excellent time. For his entry into the running at the French Championships, the swimmer, who trains in the United States, indeed struck very hard on Sunday in Rennes. The new tricolor swimming phenomenon broke his own French record in the 200m breaststroke by more than two seconds, approaching the world record less than a second.
The 21-year-old Frenchman, great attraction of the Breton week, marked the first day of competition, winning in 2 min 06 sec 59/100, the fourth best time in history over the distance at only 64 hundredths of the Australian Zac Stubblety-Cook’s world record (2 min 05 sec 95/100). He also established the best world performance of the year.
“All the work I’ve done is paying off”
“I wanted to break the world record! “, recognized Marchand at the exit of the basin, he who always seeks to set himself challenges. “In the end I’m not far (…) It’s a satisfaction because all the work I’ve done pays off, I feel better in breaststroke than last year so it’s great. »
Marchand was first greeted with polite applause from the crowd, before capsizing the stands on the final length, when he was still ahead of the world record. Opposite, the swimmers’ stand was also in turmoil to witness the performance of their new headliner. “That was cool! I went a bit full. I had a little trouble in the last 50m, normal, ”he then admitted.
His time is obviously enough to achieve the minimum required by the French Federation for the Worlds in five weeks, but the Toulousain has already announced that he will not compete in this race in Japan, the schedule of the events not allowing him to. “It’s really bad for me because with weather like this, I could be one of the best, but I’m saving it for next year,” he explained, taking the date for the Paris Olympics in 2024, of which he should be the big star.
In the absence of Marchand, France will be represented for the Japanese Worlds by Antoine Marc, who also achieved the minima. On the other hand, spectators at the Rennes swimming pool will see the French prodigy again this Monday for the 200m freestyle, then every day until the end of the competition on Friday.