Léon Marchand "a bit of a struggle" before his 400m medley final, to conclude the Singapore World Championships

He is no longer the elated Léon Marchand of midweek, the one who has just shaved off the 200m medley world record. When he appears before the few French journalists present in Singapore on Sunday, August 3, the Toulouse native appears somewhat worried. During the 400m medley heats, of which he will compete in the final that evening (1:59 p.m. Paris time), he only qualified with the 7th time (4 min 13.19). Far from his world record (4 min 2.50) and with only eight tenths of a second ahead of the first eliminated.

From the stands, the question arose: was the four-time gold medalist at the Paris 2024 Games managing or struggling? The answer was swift. "It wasn't intentional. I would have preferred to have the best time this morning, but it didn't go as planned. I was struggling a bit. It's not just my legs that are heavy (...) Yes, it worries me. I was lucky this morning, but I have a line tonight, so it's okay," he assures. And announces his pre-final program: nap and recovery.

On the final day of the Singapore World Swimming Championships, gray skies and rain descended on the Asian city-state, and both seemed to have crept into the pool decks. It was a disappointing morning for Léon Marchand. What will his evening hold? In addition to the 400m medley final, where he will be aiming for his seventh individual and long-course world title, the 23-year-old swimmer will compete in the 4x100m medley relay final just thirty minutes later.

"I want to do both, even if physically, it won't be easy," admits the Toulouse native, who will be competing in breaststroke alongside Yohann Ndoye Brouard (backstroke), Maxime Grousset (butterfly) and Yann Le Goff (front crawl). But will he be able to go the distance? On Wednesday, in the euphoria of his world record, his coach Nicolas Castel marveled at the performance, before warning: "Now we have to see if the amount of work done this year is enough to finish the week."

Like many other swimmers in their post-Olympic year, Léon Marchand's season hasn't been the most studious in terms of preparation. He took vacations, traveled to Asia, trained in Australia, and had a lot of fun there, before joining his American coach Bob Bowman in Austin, Texas, in April. "I started working hard quite late this year. Obviously, there was the question of whether I was going to give 100% for the world championships," he said before the start of the competition.

He also injured himself twice – his shoulder in December, a rib in February. "It was a bit more chaotic this year for him," admits Denis Auguin, the national technical director of the French Swimming Federation, far from being alarmed by Léon Marchand's performance in Sunday's heats: "I found it a bit too lax, but no worries."

Léon Marchand's start to the World Championships was also not easy, with the Frenchman unable to sleep after his 200m medley world record, before experiencing the "nervous tension of a final the next day, which creates physical fatigue," according to Denis Auguin. The Toulouse native also let his strength down in the 4x200m freestyle relay final on Friday, which saw France finish in 6th place.

Above all, Léon Marchand is venturing into uncharted waters during this final evening in Singapore. He has mastered the 400m medley to perfection, but will discover the distance at the end of a week of competition. This year, the organizers of the world championships have decided to reverse the schedule: at the Budapest World Championships in 2022, at those in Fukuoka (Japan) in 2023, and then at the Paris Games, the Frenchman launched his medal sweep by winning the 400m medley.

" Doing a 400m medley at the end of the week, after having done a lot of races, is not the same as on the first day when it's fresh," assures Denis Auguin. In addition to the desire to beat the world record in the 200m medley, this calendar adjustment also explains Léon Marchand's choice to skip the 200m butterfly and the 200m breaststroke in Singapore, in which he is nevertheless the Olympic champion.