Leon Marchand Shatters Boundaries: The 500 Freestyle Challenge Redefined!

Male NCAA Swim of the Year: Leon Marchand Engaged with 500 Freestyle; Redefined Limits of Possibility

For over two years, Leon Marchand has been recognized as the premier swimmer globally, excelling in individual medley competitions akin to how Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte performed at their peak, while also becoming the finest in the world in the 200 butterfly and 200 breaststroke. When Marchand captured four individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics, he joined Phelps and Mark Spitz as the sole male swimmers to accomplish such an achievement at a single event.

However, as commanding as Marchand has been in long course, he excels even further in short course, owing to underwater dolphin kicks more potent than those displayed by Phelps and Lochte. In the yards version of his iconic competition, the 400 IM, Marchand possesses a personal best four seconds ahead of anyone else in history. Moreover, Marchand’s adaptability increases in the 25-yard course; at the 2023 and 2024 NCAA Championships, he recorded the fastest sprint breaststroke relay splits ever seen.

Although he has never participated in international freestyle competitions, consider his yards times from the NCAAs: his 40.28 relay leadoff in the 100 free made him the third-fastest man ever (now fourth), and when he led off Arizona State’s 800 free relay, he timed in at 1:28.97, becoming the first man to swim under 1:29 in the 200 free (even though Luke Hobson swam faster in the individual event just two days later). Ultimately, what Marchand accomplished in the 500 free was one of the greatest collegiate performances of all time.

Leon Marchand — Photo Courtesy: Peter H. Bick

In his initial two years at Arizona State, Marchand’s NCAA Championships roster featured both IM events as well as the 200 breaststroke. However, in his third year, he selected the 500 free over the 200 IM at the Pac-12 Championships and shattered the NCAA and U.S. Open records with a time of 4:06.18, 14 hundredths faster than Kieran Smith’s previous record. That performance, along with the inclusion of Hubert Kos and Owen McDonald on the Sun Devils’ team, persuaded Marchand and head coach Bob Bowman that he should focus on the 500 free at the national level.

Upon arriving in Indianapolis, Marchand faced two prior NCAA champions in the event, Texas’ Luke Hobson (2023) and Georgia’s Jake Magahey (2021). Yet, Marchand surged ahead in the competition, maintaining a lead of more than a second after 50 yards and nearly two seconds after 100. He continued to extend his advantage over both the competition and record time, concluding with an extraordinary time of 4:02.31.

Hobson and Magahey exceeded the winning time in the event from the previous year, yet both finished over four and a half seconds behind.

In long course, Marchand would find it challenging to outpace a competitor like Smith in the 400 free, an event where Smith secured the Olympic bronze medal in Tokyo. However, Marchand executed underwater kicks for nearly half of each lap, a tactic typical in butterfly and backstroke events but uncommon in the longer freestyle disciplines. He flawlessly implemented this strategy while improving his own record by almost four seconds.

Following that NCAA Championships, where Marchand led Arizona State to their first-ever national title, he turned professional ahead of his dominating Olympic performance, and other male swimmers have narrowed the gap Marchand forged on historical competition in the 500 free. In November, Carson Foster clocked 4:05.81 to establish the American record, and shortly after, Rex Maurer shattered that record with a time of 4:04.45. Interestingly, both of these swimmers now train under Bowman’s guidance at Texas.

Of course, Marchand remains two seconds ahead of anyone else historically in an off-event, and even with Maurer, Hobson, and others performing strongly, it is unlikely that the 4:02 mark will be approached anytime soon.