At the Duna Arena in Budapest, Léon Marchand of France seized the 400m individual medley title and his first World Championship gold, touching in 4:04.28 — a championship record, a European record, and the second-fastest swim in history.
The race was not won early. Carson Foster of the United States led through butterfly and backstroke, turning at the 200-metre mark in 1:58.18 to Marchand’s 1:58.66. The young Frenchman stayed close, then turned the contest on its head during the breaststroke leg.
A breaststroke surge that decided everything
Marchand split 1:07.28 on the third 100 metres, moving more than a second ahead of Michael Phelps’ world-record pace. Foster faded to a 1:10.32 split in the same stretch, and Marchand’s margin over the field became unassailable. He covered the freestyle leg in 58.34 and only slipped behind Phelps’ ghost on the very final length.
Second-fastest, chasing a legend’s mark
Silver went to Foster in 4:06.56, a two-second personal best. Bronze went to Chase Kalisz in 4:07.47. But the night belonged to Marchand, whose 4:04.28 stood behind only Phelps’ 4:03.84 from the Beijing Olympics — and ahead of every swim ever done in a textile suit.
Coached by Bob Bowman, Phelps’ former mentor, Marchand had already shown his class at the NCAA Championships. This performance, however, was the defining moment in the long-course pool that he had still needed.
“I think I learned a lot about myself,” Marchand told reporters afterwards. “I need to have fun in racing. I am just very free in the water and able to give everything for each race.”
The gold also wove his name into a family story — his father, Xavier Marchand, took silver in the 200m IM at the 1998 World Championships. A French medley tradition had found its next chapter, and the son was only beginning to write his.