World Aquatics Championships 2023: Leon Marchand destroys Michael Phelps' 400 medley record to seize world title

Michael Phelps no longer owns an individual swimming world record.

All thanks to France's Leon Marchand, who took a whopping 1.34 seconds off Phelps' men's 400m individual medley mark to take gold at the World Aquatics Championships 2023 in Fukuoka, Japan, on Sunday (23 July), becoming the first-ever to break four minutes, three seconds.

"That was insane, one of the most painful things I've done. It was amazing to do it here and the time is crazy," Marchand said poolside after his 4:02.50 victory. "The best is yet to come.

"It’s excellent, I train everyday for that. I’m two seconds faster than my previous record, I beat the world record, it’s amazing… I don’t know what to say, I’m so happy."

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USA's Carson Foster led through 50m but Marchand had caught the American by the end of the second length. From there, the Frenchman slowly but surely began to open a gap on Foster – and Phelps' record.

The 21-year-old was as far as 2.77 seconds ahead of Phelps' time at 300m after the breaststroke but tired a little at the end. Foster finished a distant 4.06 seconds back (4:06.56), with Seto Daiya of Japan third (4:09.41).

Phelps was there to give Marchand - who came within 0.44 of the American's mark at last year's worlds in Budapest and is trained by his former mentor Bob Bowman - his gold medal at the victory ceremony.

Marchand said in his post-race chat with the 26-times world champion Phelps, who is at this meet as a commentator, told him he could be even better, which is a frightening thought.

"He was very impressed by the time," said Marchand, who is penciled in for three more races in Fukuoka - the 200 IM, 200 fly and 200 breast.

"He was commenting on the race so it was pretty cool to see that. He just told me so many things and also what to improve on next time. It’s a great day.

I think I’m handling the pressure pretty well right now. It’s not perfect. I can get better - and I have one year to improve."