French phenom dominates the race with another personal best time to claim his second individual title at this year's world championships.
(Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
Leon Marchand followed up on his historic performance from the opening night of swimming competition at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships with another blazing swim and a gold medal in the men’s 200m butterfly.
Swimming in lane 5, Marchand quickly announced himself as the man to beat, taking the lead after the first 50m.
Leading by at least a head-length from that point on, the 21-year-old Frenchman finished the race in 1:52.43, more than a second ahead of silver medallist Krzysztof Chmielewski of Poland and bronze medallist Honda Tomoru of Japan.
This was an improvement of almost one second from the 1:53.37 that earned Marchand the silver medal at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.
"The 200m butterfly was amazing," Marchand said in a press conference after receiving his medal. "I was in my swim from the beginning. I took advantage of my turn and pushed it. I’ve seen that I was leading at the half-race and then I pushed in the last 50 m. The 1:52 at the end - it was so good.
"I’m used to use my turn to take the lead. I’m doing it everyday at training. It hurts the lungs, the legs, it’s not always easy but when you see the time, you can win this way an it’s nice."
Poland's 19-year-old Chmielewski took his career's senior medal in the men’s 200m butterfly, while Honda repeated his bronze medal performance from 2022, albeit with a slower time.
Marchand's victory in the men's 200m butterfly comes three days after he defended the world title in his signature 400m individual medley by smashing Michael Phelps' last remaining individual world record.
The French swimmer took 1.34 off the legend's 15-year-old mark, becoming the first-ever to go under four minutes, three seconds. As in Sunday's race, Phelps was at the pool to congratulate Marchand and present him with the gold medal.
With exactly one year to go until Marchand's home Olympic Games, the Frenchman now also appears on track to get closer to Phelps' all-time record of 28 Olympic medals.
"It’s a good preparation for Paris 2024," Marchand said. "I’m doing good things in the way I’m handling the pressure, being faster during the finals and how I enjoy it and I think it will be the same in one year."
Marchand next competes in the men's 200m individual medley final, on Thursday (27 July), where he will try to defend his world title.