Budapest 2022, Day 1 Euro Recap: Marchand Follows in Phelps’ & Father’s Footsteps

2022 FINA WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS

• June 18-25, 2022 (pool swimming)
• Budapest, Hungary
• Duna Arena
• LCM (50-meter format)
• Full Aquatics Schedule
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• Psych Sheets
• Start Lists Book (pre-meet)
• Meet Central
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• SwimSwam Day 1 Live Recap

After a sensational NCAA Championships where he won two individual events and blasted a 1:37.69 in the 200-yard IM for a U.S Open record, all eyes were on Leon Marchand as he headed into his first senior long course World Championships. How would his speed in yards translate into meters?

Marchand wasted no time answering that question. In the final of the men’s 400 IM, he swam 4:04.28 to rattle Michael Phelps‘ world record. That time is also the second-fastest in history, a huge personal best, a Championship record, a French record, and a European record. In prelims, he had clocked a new best and French record in 4:09.09 but he blew that time out of the water as well.

Before June 18, 2022, it seemed like a long-shot that Marchand (or anyone) would come close to Phelps’ 4:03.84 world record at the 2022 World Championships. The closest anyone had gotten to it in the last nine years was Chase Kalisz who swam 4:05.90 in 2017. And before Marchand dove in the water, he’d only been sub-4:10 once.

Split Comparison: 

As you can see, Marchand picked up all of his time on Phelps in the breaststroke leg, where he was over three seconds faster. At the turn into the freestyle leg and even at the final turn, Marchand was out in front of world record pace, but Phelps brought his swim back more than a second faster than Marchand.

Notably, Bob Bowman coached Marchand, Phelps, and Kalisz. On Marchand’s swim, Bowman said “I’m super happy with how he swam it. I think he can get more out of the backstroke but the breaststroke was spot on. Nobody works harder than Leon so he deserves this swim!”

In finals, Marchand split 1:03.12 on the backstroke, slightly slower than the 1:02.59 he swam this morning. If he’d repeated the 1:02.59, along with his other splits from tonight, he touches in 4:03.75 and that’s the world record.

Of course, the difference in splits could also be due to pacing the race differently. A more accurate comparison to how Marchand paces the race is Kalisz, who likes to hang around on the first 100 then push the breaststroke and never look back. Let’s take a look at how Marchand’s splits compare to Kalisz’s 4:05.90, which he swam to win gold at the 2017 World Championships.

The splits show the similar way that Marchand and Kalisz swim this race. The difference between their swims isn’t as glaring as the difference between Marchand and Phelps. Rather, Marchand outpaced Kalisz by a range of .31 – .53 seconds on each leg to be faster. The biggest difference between their splits is the .53 seconds on the backstroke leg. Marchand has massively improved his backstroke; he split 1:06 on his backstroke leg during his 4:09.65 swim, which was his best time from before this meet. Given that difference, and Bowman’s comments, its clear that part of the race is something that he’s been working on.

Marchand becomes just the second French swimmer to medal in an IM event at a World Championships. The first? His father, Xavier Marchand, who won silver in the men’s 200 IM at the 1998 Worlds. Leon will swim that race later in the meet.

Despite this intriguing split and his NCAA championship in the event, Leon opted for the 200 fly over the 200 breast at this meet.

Quick Hits

• Ben Proud heads into tomorrow night’s 50 fly final as the top qualifier. He posted a 22.76, one hundredth off his lifetime best British record, which is also the time he won gold in at 2017 Worlds.
• On Hungary’s 5th place men’s 4×100 free relay, Kristof Milak anchored in 46.89, one of four 46-splits in the field. That’s a pretty impressive split from someone who is also 1:50.73 in the 200 butterfly.
• Three out of the six Olympic finalists in the women’s 200 IM did not make it back for the final, but Katinka Hosszu squeaked in 8th in 2:10.72. She’s two seconds behind top qualifier Alex Walsh, but keeps the dream of a fifth-consecutive World Championship title alive.

Other Continental and National Records on Day 1

• Felix Auboeck clocked 3:43.58 to reset the Austrian record in the men’s 400 freestyle. He held the previous record as well, which was 3:44.26, swum at the 2022 Stockholm Open.
• Thomas Ceccon broke the men’s 50 fly record in prelims with a 22.88, then lowered it again in the semifinals with a 22.79.
• Adam Halas posted a 23.94 in prelims of the men’s 50 fly to set a new Slovakian record. That swim was his first time sub-24, as he got under the record of 24.14 that he set in May.
• Noe Ponti set a new Swiss record in the men’s 50 fly. He swam a 23.04 in the heats to lower his previous record of 22.39, which he set in 2021.
• Latvia’s Ieva Maluka swam 2:16.94 to lower her national record in the women’s 2oo IM. That’s her first time under 2:17. Including relays, she holds 9 Latvian records.
• Lewis Burras, Jacob Whittle, Matt Richards, and Tom Dean teamed up to break the British record in the men’s 4×100 free relay in 3:11.18. That cracks the record set at last year’s European Champs by .42 seconds.
• In prelims of the men’s 4×100 free relay, the Israeli team of Tomer Frankel, Gal Cohen Groumi, Denis Loktev, and Meiron Cheruti swam 3:15.45 to break the Israeli record and finish 9th.
• Israel’s Kristian Pitschugin swam 1:00.33 in the semifinals of the men’s 100 breast, just getting under his previous national record of 1:00.37 from May.

Europe Medal Table Through Day 1