World swimming
In Singapore, Léon Marchand is always targeting higher
The quadruple Olympic champion started its world championships this Wednesday. Despite a reduced program, the French swimmer has in mind the 200 m swim world record.
The French swimmer Léon Marchand is aligned in the 200 m swimming and the 400 m 4 swimming of these swimming worlds in Singapore.
AFP
Engaged at the Singapore Worlds with a reduced programLéon Marchand hopes to demonstrate this Wednesday the progress made this season on the back and the crawl, two areas that should allow him to aim even higher.
This week in the city-state, the Frenchman decided to align himself solely on two races: the 200 and 400 m four swimming. A much more modest menu than that of last summer in Paris, where he had been the author of a completely crazy week, concluded with Four individual Olympic titles.
“It was a good time to lighten a little after the games and restart me quietly,” he explained to the media around the world on Saturday, on the eve of the start of the planetary competition. “I try to stay calm. The approach will be a little different this time (…), it will allow me to breathe a little. ”
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A light program in Singapore
For his entry into the competition very early this Wednesday morning (5:00 a.m., Swiss time), the French swimmer signed the best time of the 200m 4 series series (1 min 57 sec 63). He was ahead of the American Shaine Casas, his training comrade at the University of Austin, and the Japanese Kosuke Makino. He will start in the semi-finals around 1:00 p.m. Wednesday. The Toulousain is expected to dive on Thursday at 1:23 p.m. Swiss time for the grand final of the 200 m swimming.
The departure of the series of the second discipline disputed by the French, the 400 m 4 swimming, will be given very early on Sunday (4:20 a.m. Swiss time). He should without great difficulty qualify and be able to swim the final scheduled at 8:00 p.m. in Singapore (2:00 p.m. Swiss time).
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Will he tickle the Lochte record?
The program may be lighter, the ambitions remain high for the Toulousain which, after that of the 400 m four swimming, dreams of seizing the world record for the lower distance.
“Of course I want to break the record for 200 m 4 swimming. I do not know if it will be in a few days or in a few years, but my curiosity pushes me to compete in these races, to try to go faster, ”he assumes. Because in Paris, Marchand had come close to the old brand of the American Ryan Lochte (1 min 54 sec 00), failing for only 6 hundredths.
The quadruple Olympic champion flew to the other side of the world to improve his performance in crawl and on the back. He has also made progress in breaststroke and butterfly.
AFP
Analysis made of his race, he then concluded that the last length had cost him the record. “What made the difference was my crawl,” he said. “So I really worked on it.”
To improve its crawl performance, the versatile swimmer therefore flew away at the start of the year for Australia, where he fueled the advice of Dean Boxall, illustrious swimming coach known for his expertise in the discipline.
“More powerful” and “more stable”
Returning to the United States, and despite injuries that have impacted his recovery, the Frenchman was able to see his progress in the matter. “Today, I am more powerful, more stable, I take more water, my head turns less,” he believes. “I hope to be able to use all of this in my 200 m swimming.”
Leon Marchand analyzes his progression and believes that he is now “more powerful” and “more stable” in crawl.
AFP
But besides the crawl, The quadruple Olympic champion has also identified the back as a relative weak point.
“Léon continues to evolve,” said his Toulouse coach Nicolas Castel. “These are things that I noticed fairly quickly during the preparation course in Jakarta.”
“There was a technical evolution. On the back, I find that it has a more solid boat, a more fixed head, which gives it better alignment, better efficiency. And we find these qualities in crawl, ”analyzed Castel, who has been brooding it since childhood.
Progress in all disciplines
“I can say that he progressed on these two swimming, but he was not satisfied to work these two: he also continued to work the butterfly and the breaststroke,” he insists.
At 23, the Paris Games hero still has an important margin of progression anyway, estimates his coach.
“Paris is not its peak,” he says. “He can still progress on lots of small things: transitions, swimming covers … It’s very fine today, but he continues to gain power, in speed. He perfected. He remains curious, he wants to test new products, to explore other tracks. ”
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