Marchand's 400 Free Masterclass In Invincibility
"Strategically, I think there are plenty of things I can improve. But I’m the European champion in the 400m freestyle, so I can't really ask for anything more." - Léon, Léon Léon ... “If you want me to go right, chances are I’ll head in the opposite direction."
Invincibility (part 2 - Part 1: Hubert Kós): It's what they say, what they do, and then what they say after the doing is done. And all of it tells the rival, athlete, coach, whoever else, 'if I step into your lane, you've got no chance - and in the lane where I'm playing to my greatest strengths, know that you cannot beat me'.
None of it is quite like that, yet all of mid is all like that. Take Léon Marchand in the 400m freestyle at his home European Championship in Paris on curtain-closing day. Why do it?
Well, for a start: home crowd, visibility, a great way to keep competing over 400m and test fitness and the strategic mind with a mindset constant challenged to belief 'I can, I will, I win' even though you can't swim on signature, medley including that adductor-unfriendly thing called breaststroke.
And invincibility: that art of telling all who might try it on you 'don't bother, I can go wherever I want, whenever I want and still come out looking like the greatest thing that ever happened in the pool since Michael Phelps... and by the way, I'm faster or as fast - breaststroke, medley, freestyle, even butterfly (and my backstroke's not bad either'; dangerous over 100, lethal over 200, likely to thrash the best over 400, even on freestyle.'
Drop the likely. It happened - this evening here in Paris.
Olympic and world champion and world record-holder Lukas Märtens was in the water but not the same race when it happened. He would end up with bronze in outside smoker 8 after making the final by a relative whisker when finishing fourth in his heat. Unlike young teammate in Magdeburg, Johannes Liebmann (1500m free WR 14:26.79), Märtens was not at his best - and his best is more than 3sec faster than Marchand's new high.
Racing is everything own race day, of course - and real speed from the remoteness of other occasion is irrelevant.
And that’s why we return to ‘invincibility’. Marchand couldn’t leave it there. He had something to say beyond the doing when he emerged from victory with a whole tribe of scalps in his hand, including Yannick Angel.
A good point to note that, Germany's freestyle force apart, all the swimmers named so far have trained under the guidance of Bob Bowman, at Baltimore, then Arizona, now Texas, at various stages of their careers: Phelps forever, Marchand and Kós when their transition to senior status took off (and the fine work of development and youth coaches was built in) in the lead-up to Paris 2024, Agnel only after the heights of his career with coach Fabrice Pellerin in Nice.
Returning to the Paris final, Marchand’s 3:43.13 set a French record well inside the 3:43.85 set by Agnel at 2011 French nationals in preparation for gold in a world textile best over 200m at the London 2012 Olympic Games. Another scalp was Märtens and all those, like Sam Short, and many others, who have taken on Märtens and been forced to settle for minor spoils. No need for more words from Marchand when the deed is done, but he’s asked - and so he responds:
“There are plenty of things I can improve,” he said, with a nod to strategy and race plan, sir take no comfort in your world records and your specialist speed, I’ll find a way to beat you anyway.
Marchand raced in lane 6 and burned off the opposition from the blocks. Märtens never looked likely to challenge for gold, unless you believe the Frenchman has any respect for or relationship with those pianos that swimmers say fall on their back from time to time as the chemistry of fatigue screams ‘DANGER!’ far sooner than a body needs to listen because its holding hands with a mindset refusing to counternance a cage threatening to impose limits. Marchand knows pain, but not pianos.
He doesn’t do standard response. His pursuit of excellence knows no bounds (‘no limits’, as Phelps would say), as in this gauntlet to every potential rival, and stroke, any distance: “If you want me to go right, chances are I’ll head in the opposite direction."
No need for me to talk you through the race, the reminder of it all locked eternally in the result sheet, its ebb, its flow, its splits, dominance, and yes, its ‘invincibility’ factor:
There was something from the history file for France to savour in the prospect of a Marchand win: ahead of Paris 2026, Italy led the all-time 400m free podium with five golds. France had four golds: Jean Taris, 1934; Alex Jany, 1947 & 1950; Yannick Agnel, 2010. Marchand is now the next, drawing France level with tally own historic gold count.
He did nothing on the clock that Märtens hasn't done before, no split faster, no turn of pace more impressive. The German coached by Bernd Berkhahn wins hands down on that score. But not this day.
Closest to him by the close was 16-year-old Oliver Papai, born December 2009, after all of Phelps' fastest swims were in the history book. AV last-length roar left Papai on 3:44.46 for silver, Märtens risen from outcast in fifth at the final turn to take bronze in 3:44.57, a workaday clocking if ever there was one for the first and so far only man ever to crack 3:40:
Craig Lord
Märtens won the 2022 in a championship record 3:42.50 that Marchand couldn't get to in 2026. On paper, he was a shoe in for what would have been a seventh victory for a German swimmer in the history of the event, the historic table separating that count into 4 for Germany and 3 for a nation that no longer exists in legal terms, the GDR.
Coach Berkhahn will know why his charge could not compete on even terms with Marchand today. All we can do, is look at the things that obviously contributed to the Frenchman's triumph: like Phelps, like Lochte, and more, Marchand, of Toulouse, has mastered the art of hungry killer-whale wall skills. Of course, the swimming part is very efficient, too, but he's not unique in that over a 400 free (as said, there were faster men in the fray - but not this day).
And even when Marchand's walls did fall well shy of the 15m mark and looked to be suffering under the challenge of his first major championship 400 free, the 400IM Olympic champion managed to rise from 'waning' (I think I saw it most obviously at the 25o mark, with a touch of 'stroke fatigue' tangible, but he rallied), the last turn sawed him stage a majestic 15m drive towards his opened-mouthed ambition to feed and feast.
Questions followed.
Your strategy?
"I tried to start a bit fast to see how it would go. But it worked out well because I managed to keep my legs moving for the final 100 metres - thankfully, because the others were closing the gap. Strategically, I think there are plenty of things I can improve. But I’m the European champion in the 400m freestyle, so I can't really ask for anything more."
Your approach and mind on the race?
"I tried to keep my blinders on for the first 200 meters. Then I realized the field was going to come back strong. I think that’s when I started gradually kicking harder. But I could see I was still well ahead. And, above all, I could hear the crowd cheering me on, so I fed off that energy. The last 25 meters were a bit of a struggle, though. But hey, it was a 3:43, so that’s to be expected."
That orca-going-in-for-the-kill last streamline off the wall?
"Yes, that’s because I really wanted to nail that one. And above all, I think my lungs weren't yet affected enough to make things difficult for me. I still managed to surface around the 15-metre mark, I think. Which is really good. Afterwards, well, my whole body was burning."
Had it been tougher than his other races? Invincibility sheds its cloak:
"No, not at all. I wanted to save my legs. I wanted to finish the 400m strong. I think I can push the underwater phases a bit more next time. I think I was a bit cautious about that this time. But my arm power was really strong."
How do you assess our progress in freestyle?
"I'm in good shape, yes. I'm faster than I expected in the 200m. And in the 400m, it's pretty much what I wanted to do. So, things are off to a good start, you could say."
Indeed you could.
So, what's Next?
He mentions the World short-course championships in Beijing in early December, and thoughts return to this: "If you want me to go right, chances are I’ll head in the opposite direction." As Celine Noni of L'Equipe puts it so well: "A man who likes to zig when others zag - yet remains driven by a pursuit of excellence..."
The little pool - December 1-6is "a goal of mine this year. I’ve never done a major short-course campaign. Timing-wise, it’s going to be a bit tricky...," he says, but you get the impression he wants in and wants others to know. "It’s in December. So, the timing will require a bit of careful planning, I think - balancing my vacation time with preparation for Beijing. But it’s something I really want to succeed at"
Meanwhile, nothing stands still and Paris 2026 was flushed with folk born 2008-2009 and later still. "Little Pápai”, as Hungarians call the 16year-old silver medallist is coached by Árpád Petrov at the Győr swim club) amazed everyone during the preliminaries of the 400 freestyle.
In heats, he took down Olympic marathon champion Kristóf Rasovszky’s 2025 Hungarian 400m record (3:45.32). In the final, he made it "my personal best" - 3:44.46, and afterwards spoke of some challenges ;ike he'd been around the block a fair few times already:
“Last year I had problems with my shoulder, because of which I had an air chest, I was in the hospital for a week and a half, and then I couldn’t train for another ten weeks, this period took a lot out of me. Unfortunately, my shoulder still didn’t get better for a long time, my determination and humility carried me forward."
And in th race?
"I tried not to pay attention to anyone, although Marchand was quite annoyingly 'dolphin-kicking' next to me during the turns, and the German [Oliver] Klemet also started faster. I tried to keep my own pace, which I succeeded in doing. I am proud of myself, I took on the greatest, besides the German and the Frenchman there was also the other German, the world record holder, all of this was a huge experience for me. I still had strength left for the last hundred, I turned to the last fifty quite easily and gave it my all. "
And where did it all come from?
"There is a lot of serious training behind this, we also prepared to have strength left for the end, and also how I could distribute my strength, how I could swim evenly. We knew that I had to perform great in the heats, and my desire was the final. I made it. I believed in myself, in that I could swim even better than in the morning. And that is how it turned out.”
Quite so.
The History File below ...
