Three weeks after his brilliant week at the NCAA Finals in Minneapolis, Léon Marchand did not miss the transition between pool in yards (22.86 m) and pool of 50 meters. On the night of Thursday to Friday, the protege of Bob Bowman, world champion in the specialty, won the 400m medley at the Tire Pro Series meeting in Westmont (Illinois), in an already amazing time. In 4’7”80, the 20-year-old Frenchman beat Carson Foster (4’9″69), and reigning Olympic champion Chase Kalisz (4’13″06), to remodel the same podium as during the Worlds from Budapest last year.
In Illinois, Léon Marchand broke the Pro Series record that Kalisz had held since 2018 in 4’8″92. We will especially observe that he did not follow the same strategy as during his university outings in yards which favor his excellence in the flows and turns. Instead of going fast, he temporized, leaving control at first to Foster and slipping just behind his Sun Devils teammate, the Hungarian Hubert Kos, in 3rd position. The American had even a half-second lead halfway through the race, when Léon Marchand made his effort in the breaststroke, overtook his two opponents and finished the job with a lead of almost two seconds.
Obviously, Michael Phelps’ old world record (4’3″84) seems to be on hold more than ever. 7″92). If we compare with last year, the Frenchman had already hit hard during his first foray into the 50m pool during the Pro Series in San Antonio, but in 4’10″38.