Léon Marchand, the ‘serial swimmer’ sweeping the NCAA swimming finals – Technologist

Standing at the edge of the Indiana University Natatorium, coach Bob Bowman frantically gestured with both arms upward as Léon Marchand raced down the home stretch of the 500-yard freestyle heat. Bowman’s gesture could be read as: “Kick, kick, hit the gas!” In an instant, the Toulouse-born swimmer’s bald coach, renowned for his monk-like focus on swimming, indulged in a rare display of jubilation; bouncing up and down on the spot, his arms raised to the sky.

He had good reason to let loose: On the evening of Thursday, March 28, his protégé had just achieved a small feat in the small world of American university sports, amid the finals of the US’s National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Men’s Swimming and Diving Championships, which took place until March 30 on the Indiana University campus in Indianapolis. The French athlete clocked a time of 4 minutes 2.31 seconds. A “Phelpsian” performance, according to phrases overhead in the stands packed with the families of both swimmers and former students – some of whom are now retired.

The shadow of Michael Phelps, the 28-time Olympic medal-winning local legend whose mentor was none other than Bowman, loomed large over the pool. As fate would have it, it was right here in Indianapolis that the “Baltimore Bullet” qualified for his first-ever Olympic Games in 2000, at just 15 years of age.

Marchand, the man who broke Phelps’ oldest record – the Men’s 400 m individual medley (IM) – in the summer of 2023 at the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka (Japan), won the yards version this event on March 29, at 3:32.12. This was his favorite event, and, despite the fatigue of the previous day, was a mere formality for him.

‘My freestyle is really much better than before’

The Arizona State University (ASU) student, meanwhile, was not very familiar with the 500-yard freestyle. Just six months ago, Marchand had never officially swum this distance (approx. 457 meters). This year, however, he chose it over the 200-yard IM.

Twice in the space of a fortnight, he has clocked the fastest times in history. On March 7, at the PAC-12 – a sporting conference comprising 12 universities in the American West – he surpassed American athlete Kieran Smith, bronze medallist in the 400m freestyle at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games, with a time of 4:06.18. On Thursday, he shaved almost four seconds off his own record, although it was only his sixth time competing in an event at this distance.

The Frenchman got off to such a fast start that he covered 200 yards in 1:33.12, a time that would have qualified him for the 200-yard freestyle heat at these finals. “The pace of my first 200 was pretty crazy, I tried to keep it up, it’s a race that stings but I had fun,” he analyzed immediately afterward. Already on Wednesday’s opening night, Marchand had already set the NCAA record for the 800 free relay with a time of 1:28.97.

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