Two hundred meters breaststroke on Sunday, 200m freestyle on Monday, 200m butterfly on Tuesday, 200m medley on Wednesday and therefore, now, 400m medley. Attraction of the French Championships, Léon Marchand obtained, Thursday, June 15, in Rennes, his fifth title of champion of France in as many days of competition.
The 21-year-old Toulousain easily won in 4 minutes, 10 seconds and 57 hundredths, a time that allows him to win a new ticket for the Worlds, from July 23 to 30 in Fukoka, Japan. His main goal this year. However, this performance remains quite far from his personal best in the 400m medley, achieved at the world championships in Budapest in 2022 (4’04”28).
A hellish time for Florent Manaudou
“I’m a little disappointed with the final time, I wanted to go below 4’10”. I feel like I’m not at my best right now, analyzed Léon Marchand just after his race at the microphone of BeIN Sports. I qualified for the Worlds in all my races, that’s the most important thing. »
The contract is in any case perfectly fulfilled for the phenomenon of French swimming. After his race, the student of Bob Bowmann, former coach of star Michael Phelps, had not yet decided whether he will swim the 100m butterfly on Friday.
The performance of the day is to the credit of Florent Manaudou. Crowned in the 50m freestyle in the evening (21”62), the 2012 Olympic champion had signed the best world performance of the year, in the series, earlier in the day. Under the eyes of his sister Laure, he won in 21”56. “If, a few days ago, I had been told that I was going to swim so fast, I would have signed up straight away! », said, all smiles, Florent Manaudou after his title.
