Léon Marchand

Léon Marchand (French pronunciation: [leɔ̃ maʁʃɑ̃] ; born 17 May 2002) is a French swimmer. He is the World record holder in the long course 400 metres individual medley and short course 200 metres individual medley; the Olympic record holder in the 200 metres butterfly, the 200 metres breaststroke, the 200 metres individual medley and the 400 metres individual medley; and the French record holder in the long course 200 metre individual medley, 200 metre butterfly and 200 metre breaststroke. At the 2024 Summer Olympics, he won gold medals in the 200 m medley, 200 metre breaststroke, 200 metre butterfly, and 400 metre medley. He became the fourth swimmer and third male swimmer in Olympic history to win four individual gold medals at a single Games.
As a member of the Arizona State University swim team, at the 2022 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, Marchand won NCAA titles in the 200 yard breaststroke and 200 yard individual medley. He won the gold medal in the 400 metre individual medley and the 200 metre individual medley and the silver medal in the 200 metre butterfly at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships. At the 2023 NCAA Division I Men's Swimming and Diving Championships, he won NCAA titles in the 200 yard breaststroke, 200 yard individual medley, and 400 yard individual medley.
Marchand was born on 17 May 2002 in Toulouse, France. Marchand is the son of former medley swimmers Xavier Marchand and Céline Bonnet. His uncle, Christophe Marchand, is also a former freestyle swimmer.
As a child, Marchand first took up judo and then rugby, and although he was not pushed into swimming by his parents, he quickly felt at ease in the water with the Dauphins du TOEC club at the age of six.
Trained and coached by Nicolas Castel in the Toulouse club until 2021, Marchand began training with an adjusted schedule around the age of 12 or 13. Although he was versatile in freestyle, butterfly, and breaststroke and a good swimmer over various distances, he was not the best national swimmer of his generation in the youth categories, being shorter and less powerful than some of his young competitors. In 2017, as a teenager, he tried the 400m individual medley on his parents' advice and developed a passion for the event.
Alongside his sports career, he earned a scientific baccalaureate with highest honors and pursued computer science studies at Toulouse III - Paul Sabatier University.
Encouraged by his parents, Marchand settled in Arizona in August 2021. He wanted to be coached by Bob Bowman, Michael Phelps' mentor. He was a junior during 2023–24 at Arizona State University, majoring in computer science.
In August 2019, at the World Junior Swimming Championships in Budapest, Hungary, Marchand won the bronze medal in the 400 metre individual medley with a French record time of 4:16.37. He also placed seventh with a time of 2:01.53 in the 200 metre individual medley, seventh swimming a 1:58.73 in the final of the 200 metre butterfly, tenth in the 200 metre breaststroke with a 2:15.13, and 15th in the 100 metre breaststroke in a time of 1:03.03.
Marchand qualified in his first event for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo at the 2021 French Elite Swimming Championships in Chartres, making the French Olympic Team in the 400 metre individual medley with a personal best and French record time of 4:09.65. At the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, Marchand placed sixth in the 400 metre individual medley with a 4:11.16, tenth in the 100 metre medley relay, 14th in the 200 metre butterfly with a 1:55.68, and 18th in the 200 metre individual medley with a 1:58.30.
At the 2022 NCAA Division I Championships in March in Atlanta, United States, Marchand won his first individual NCAA title of his freshman year for the Arizona State Sun Devils in the 200 yard individual medley, winning the event and setting new NCAA, NCAA Championships, and US Open records with his time of 1:37.69, which was over four-tenths of a second faster than the old marks of 1:38.13 set by Caeleb Dressel in 2018 (NCAA and US Open records) and 1:38.14 set by Andrew Seliskar in 2019 (NCAA Championships record). It was the first time since 2000 that a man from the Arizona State University swim program won an individual title in swimming at an NCAA Division I men's swimming and diving championships. He won a second NCAA title in the 200 yard breaststroke, finishing 0.56 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Max McHugh with a time of 1:48.20. He placed second in the 400 yard individual medley, with a 3:34.08 to finish behind Hugo González, as well as in the 4×100 yard freestyle relay, where he split a 41.31 for the second leg of the relay to help finish in a final time of 2:46.40.
Seven days after the end of the 2022 NCAA Championships, Marchand set a new French record in the 200 metre individual medley at the 2022 Pro Swim Series at Northside Swim Center in San Antonio, United States, with a time of 1:56.95 and won the silver medal behind Shaine Casas who finished in 1:56.70. One day earlier, he won the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:09.24.
On 18 June, the first day of swimming at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Marchand set a new French record in the 400 metre individual medley in the preliminary heats with a time of 4:09.09, qualifying for the evening final ranking first. He lowered his French record and set a new European record and Championships record in the final with a time of 4:04.28 to win the gold medal. With this time, he became the second fastest performer of all time in this event. Two days later, he qualified for the semifinals of the 200 metre butterfly with a time of 1:56.38 and tied rank of eleventh in the prelims. For the semifinals, he ranked 0.18 seconds ahead of the next-fastest swimmer, fifth-ranked Luca Urlando of the United States, and qualified for the final the following day with his new French record time of 1:54.32.
The following morning, he qualified for the semifinals of the 200 metre individual medley, swimming a 1:58.70 to tie for eighth-rank heading into the semifinals. For his first race of the evening, he set a new French record in the final of the 200 metre butterfly at 1:53.37 and won the silver medal, finishing behind Kristóf Milák of Hungary and ahead of Tomoru Honda of Japan. In his final race of the day, the semifinals of the 200 metre individual medley, he set a new French record with a time of 1:55.75 and qualified for the final ranking first. In the final of the 200 metre individual medley the following day, he won the gold medal with a French record time of 1:55.22. With his two gold medals, he became the third French swimmer to achieve two gold medals in individual events at a single FINA World Aquatics Championships, after Laure Manaudou and Florent Manaudou. He also became the first male swimmer representing France to win any medal in the 400 metre individual medley at a World Aquatics Championships, the first since 1998 to win a medal in the 200 m individual medley and the 200 meter butterfly and the first to win a gold medal in the 200 metre individual medley. On 23 June, he split a 1:47.59 for the second leg of the 4×200 metre freestyle relay in the final to help achieve a seventh-place finish in 7:08.78. In the preliminaries of the 4×100 metre medley relay on the eighth day, Marchand helped advance the relay to the final ranking second with a time of 52.09 seconds for the butterfly leg of the relay. He lowered his split to a 51.50 in the final, contributing to a time of 3:32.37 and fifth-place finish
The month after the Championships, Marchand set a new French record in the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:08.76 at the 2022 Spanish Summer Championships in Sabadell, Spain.
Leading up to NCAA and conference championships season in 2023, Marchand set new NCAA and US Open records in the 400 yard individual medley with a time of 3:31.84 in a dual meet against the California Golden Bears on 21 January.
On 1 March, the first day of the 2023 Pac-12 Conference Championships at King County Aquatic Center in Federal Way, United States, Marchand helped win the conference title in the 4×50 yard medley relay in a Pac-12 Conference and Championships record time of 1:21.69, splitting a 22.98 for the breaststroke leg of the relay. He repeated the trio of conference title, conference record, and Championships record later in the session in the 4×200 yard freestyle relay, where he contributed a lead-off time of 1:30.77 to the final mark of 6:06.30. The times for both relays also set new Arizona State Sun Devils swim program records for the men's events. Following up with a 1:37.81 in the 200 yard individual medley the next day, he won his second-consecutive conference title in the event and lowered his Championships record from the previous year's edition by 1.84 seconds. On day three, he lowered his US Open and NCAA records in the 400 yard individual medley, setting new conference, Championships, and program records with a time of 3:31.57 to win the conference title. He split a 49.73 for the breaststroke leg of the 4×100 yard medley relay later in the session, helping win the conference title with a program record time of 3:01.39.
The fourth of four days, Marchand broke the US Open and NCAA records of 1:47.91 in the 200 yard breaststroke set by Will Licon in 2017, winning the conference title with a personal best time of 1:47.67. For his final event, the 4×100 yard freestyle relay, he led-off with a 41.61 to contribute to a second-place time of 2:46.14. The points allocated for each of his swims contributed to an overall score of 897.5 points for the Arizona State Sun Devils, which earned the men's swim program its first team Pac-12 Conference Championships title.
Later in the month, at the 2023 NCAA Division I Championships, Marchand helped win the silver medal in the 4×50 yard medley relay in a time of 1:21.07 on the first day of competition, splitting a 22.27 for the breaststroke leg of the relay. Later in the session, he anchored with a 1:28.42 in the 4×200 yard freestyle relay to help win the silver medal in a time of 6:05.08. Both relay times set new men's swim program records for the Arizona State Sun Devils. His split time of 22.27 lowered the former fastest 50 yard breaststroke split time in NCAA history of 22.39 seconds set by Max McHugh two heats earlier. His split time of 1:28.42 for his 200-yard portion of the 4×200 yard freestyle relay ranked as the fastest in NCAA history as well. On the second day, he won the NCAA title in the 200 yard individual medley for the second consecutive year, lowering his NCAA, Championships, and US Open records in the event to a 1:36.34.
In the final of the 400 yard individual medley on the third evening, Marchand won the gold medal with a new NCAA, Championships, and US Open record time of 3:28.82, which was over two full seconds faster than his previous mark of 3:31.57. For his second final of the evening, he contributed the fastest 100 yard breaststroke split time in NCAA history (49.23 seconds) to a bronze medal-win in the 4×100 yard medley relay in an Arizona State Sun Devils men's swim program record time of 2:59.18. Starting the fourth finals session with the 200 yard breaststroke, he won his second repeat title and third title overall of the Championships, lowering his NCAA and US Open records as well as setting a new Championships record with a personal best time of 1:46.91. Finishing the Championships in the 4×100 yard freestyle relay later in the session, he split a 40.55 for the second leg of the relay to contribute to placing third overall with a program record time of 2:45.12. His performances contributed to the first-ever top-five finish for the Arizona State Sun Devils men's swim program at an men's NCAA Division I Swimming and Diving Championships, with the team placing second overall with 430 points, just 52 points behind the first-place team (California Golden Bears) and 46 points ahead of the third-place team (Texas Longhorns).
Following the conclusion of the collegiate championships, Marchand competed at the 2023 TYR Pro Swim Series in April, winning the 400 metre individual medley with a 4:07.80, the 200 metre butterfly with a 1:55.58, the 200 metre breaststroke with a 2:10.52, and the 200 metre individual medley with a 1:55.69. In June, he won the gold medal in the 200 metre breaststroke at the 2023 French Elite Swimming Championships on day one in Rennes, finishing in a French record and 2023 World Aquatics Championships qualifying time of 2:06.59 that marked a time drop of 2.17 seconds from his previous personal best and French record time. On the second day, he swam a personal best time of 1:48.70 in the preliminaries of the 200 metre freestyle and qualified ranking seventh for the final, where he won the gold medal with a personal best time of 1:46.44.
For the 200 metre butterfly on day three, Marchand won the gold medal with a time of 1:55.79. He won his fourth national title on the fourth day in the 200 metre individual medley, where he finished first with a time of 1:56.25 in the final. In the 400 metre individual medley on day five, he achieved a World Championships qualifying time of 4:10.57 in the final and won the gold medal and national title.
On 23 July, the first day of swimming at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships at Fukuoka in Japan, Marchand ranked second behind Carson Foster in the preliminary heats of the 400 metre individual medley with a time of 4:10.88. He set a new World record in the final with a time of 4:02.50 to win the gold medal. Two days later, he qualified for the semifinals of the 200 metre butterfly with a time of 1:55.46 and tied rank of seventh in the prelims. For the semifinals, he ranked second behind Carson Foster with a time of 1:54.21 and qualified for the final the following day.
The following morning, he qualified for the semifinals of the 200 metre individual medley, swimming a 1:58.38 to tie for ninth-rank heading into the semifinals. For his first race of the evening, he set a new French record in the final of the 200 metre butterfly at 1:52.43 and won the gold medal. With this time, he became the third fastest performer of all time in this event. In his final race of the day, the semifinals of the 200 metre individual medley, he ranked first with a time of 1:56.34. In the final of the 200 metre individual medley the following day, he won the gold medal with a European record time of 1:54.82. With this time, he became the third fastest performer of all time in this event. With his three gold medals, he became the first French swimmer to achieve three gold medals in individual events at a single World Aquatics Championships and the first French swimmer to win five individual gold medals in all at World Aquatics Championships ahead of Camille Lacourt and his four individual gold medals. He also became the first male swimmer representing France to win a gold medal in the 200 metre butterfly at a World Aquatics Championships. On 28 July, he split a 1:44.89 for the fourth leg of the 4×200 metre freestyle relay in the final to help achieve a fourth-place finish in 7:03.86. On 30 July, in the preliminaries of the 4×100 metre medley relay, Marchand helped advance the relay to the final ranking second with a time of 59.57 seconds for the breaststroke leg of the relay. In the evening final of the same day, he split a 59 seconds for the breaststroke leg of the relay and helped to achieve a fourth-place finish in 3:29.88.
At the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, Marchand finished with the most gold medals among individuals participants, with four, and was tied for the second-most total medals, with five (four gold, one bronze), breaking four Olympic records. On 28 July in the morning, Marchand ranked first in the preliminary heats of the 400 metre individual medley with a time of 4:08.30. He won the final in the evening in a Olympic record time of 4:02.95 for his first career Olympic medal, making him the tenth French swimmer to become Olympic Champion, the seventh French swimming individual Olympic Champion and the first to do so since the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.
On 30 July in the morning, he ranked sixth in the preliminary heats of the 200 metre butterfly with a time of 1:55.26. The same day in the evening, he ranked second in the semifinals with a time of 1:53.50 to advance to the final. On 30 July in the afternoon, he ranked third in the preliminary heats of the 200 metre breaststroke with a time of 2:09.55. The same day in the evening, he ranked first in the semifinals with a time of 2:08.11 to advance to the final. On 31 July in the evening, he won first the 200 metre butterfly and then the 200 metre breaststroke setting a new Olympic record and French record in a time of 1:51.21 for the 200 metre butterfly and a new Olympic record, European record and French record in a time of 2:05.85 for the 200 metre breaststroke. He has become the second swimmer to win two individual gold medals the same day since Kornelia Ender at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal in the events of the 200 metre freestyle and the 100 metre butterfly.
On 1 August in the morning, he ranked third in the preliminary heats of the 200 metre individual medley with a time of 1:57.86. The same day in the evening, he ranked first in the semifinals with a time of 1:56.31 to advance to the final. On 2 August, he won his fourth gold medal in the final of the 200 metre individual medley in a Olympic record time of 1:54.06, becoming the first French Olympian to win four gold medals at the same Olympics and the fourth swimmer (with Mark Spitz in 1972 Summer Olympics in Munich, Kristin Otto in 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul and Michael Phelps in 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing) to win four individual gold medals at the same Olympics.
On 3 August, in the evening final of the 100 metre mixed medley relay, he split a 58.66 seconds for the breaststroke leg of the relay and helped to achieve a fourth-place finish in a new French record of 3:40.96.
Finally on 3 August, in the preliminaries of the 100 metre medley relay, Marchand helped advance the relay to the final ranking first with a time of 59.03 seconds for the breaststroke leg of the relay. On 4 August in the evening, he split a 58.62 seconds for the breaststroke leg of the relay and helped to achieve a bronze medal in a new French record of 3:28.38.
Marchand has been mentioned frequently as the next Phelps, including by Phelps himself. Marchand was chosen to carry the Olympic flame during the closing ceremony.
Following the Olympic Games, Marchand competed in the Swimming World Cup, winning gold in all three medley events (100 IM, 200 IM and 400 IM) at all three World Cup legs, held in Shanghai in China, Incheon in South Korea and in Singapore. He also broke the 200 IM short course World record (1:48.88). On 30th November, he decided to pull out of World Aquatics Swimming Championships (25 m) in Budapest due to exhaustion after this olympic year. He is named World Aquatics male swimmer of the year on 15th December.
The following medals Marchand has won at World Aquatics Swimming World Cup circuits.