Paris 2024 Form Guides

Paris 2024 Guide - Day 2: M 400m IM - Marchand Is The Medley Man To Beat At His Home Games

When Marchand broke Phelps' last-remaining World record, coach to both men, Bob Bowman, suggested back then that the French ace could pioneer the first sub-4-minute 400IM. No other in Paris is in that frame in the hunt for gold

by Craig Lord

published July 28, 2024

Paris 2024 Guide - Day 2: M 400m IM - Marchand Is The Medley Man To Beat At His Home Games — Leon Marchand celebrates 400IM victory and World record in at the 20th World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, Sunday, July 23, 2023. (Photo by Patrick B. Kraemer / MAGICPBK)

It's a wager that won't win you any money: Léon Marchand is the French ace to beat in the 400m medley - and he might beat the rest by a league at that.

Coached by Bob Bowman and recently turned 22, Marchand is a worthy poster boy for the host nation in the prime of his athletic life. He took down Michael Phelps' 400m medley World record last year in a breathtaking 4mins 02.50. But there's more to come, according to a video in which the swimmer emerges from a test set to find the coach telling him "your breaststroke's fine ... " and that a 3:57 is possible.

Here's where the water sparkles along the fastest 400 medley splits ever seen:

54.66; 1:56.64 (1:01.98) 3:04.28 (1:07.64) 4:02.50 (58.22) Marchand WR Fukuoka 2023
54.92; 1:56.49 (1:01.57) 3:07.05 (1:10.56) 4:03.84 (56.79) Phelps WR Beijing 2008

The son of Xavier Marchand, Perth 1998 Worlds silver medallist over 200IM atop a career that included European silver and bronze medals and the Mediterranean Games title in the same event, Léon Marchand caught up with dad on the clock as a 17-year-old in 2019: 1:02.3 on 100m breaststroke to 1:05 for dad; 54.28 in the 100 ‘fly, 55.45 for dad; 2:00.66 in the 200IM, 2:01.08 for dad … and so on.

Then on day 1 at French nationals in 2021, he turned the sailboat in which he buffeted past Xavier’s 4:21 best 400IM in 2019 into a speedboat with a 4:09.65. That stood as the French record until Budapest Worlds prelims in 2022. That passage of rites from junior to big senior prospect (in both medleys and the 200m breaststroke and 'fly, marked the latest extension of a steep trajectory for the son of Céline Bonnet, the French 1992 Olympic swimmer and teammate of French 200 ‘fly legend and national-record holder yet, Frank Esposito when he claimed Olympic bronze.