Léon Marchand goals to interrupt personal 400m medley file at European Aquatics Championships

Four-time Olympic champion Léon Marchand goals to enhance his personal world file within the males’s 400m particular person medley when he competes on the European Aquatics Championships in his residence nation, France.

Marchand set the 400m particular person medley file on the World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, Japan, in July 2023 when he clocked 4:02.50, taking a whopping 1.34 seconds off Michael Phelps’ 2008 world file – the oldest mark within the books.

“The idea is to beat my best times,” Marchand instructed French media on Thursday (23 April).

“The program isn’t finalised yet, but I know I’ll be doing the 400 individual medley on the first day. If I qualify, it would be a race where I’d like to break my record.”

Marchand, who additionally holds the world file within the 200m particular person medley, added that he was relishing the “fantastic” alternative to interrupt the file in entrance of his residence crowd on the 31 July-6 August European championships in Paris.

The French capital holds a particular place in Marchand’s profession after he entered the historical past books of swimming by successful 4 particular person gold medals at Paris 2024, together with two on the identical day within the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly.

Working in the direction of the upcoming championships, the 23-year-old mentioned he had been present process intensive coaching. 

“This is the first time that March has been so difficult in terms of volume, intensity, and the challenge of stringing together sessions,” he defined.