How CLOSE Was Leon Marchand to this World Record Mens 200 IM

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Leon Marchand just finished off his individual event campaign at the 2024 Paris Olympics. After taking the golds in the 400 IM, 200 fly, and 200 breast the 200 IM would be his final event.

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00:00Leon Marchand just won his fourth individual gold medal at the 2024 Paris Olympics while

00:05coming within inches of a world record. Marchand has been the man to beat since his breakout at

00:102022 Worlds. He won this event both in 2022 and then again in 2023. But unlike the 400 IM from

00:17earlier in the meet, he had a little more competition in the 200 IM. Wang Shan of China

00:22is the defending Olympic champion in the event, and even holds a faster personal best than Marchand

00:27by two tenths. Both of these swimmers went these times in 2023, with Marchand hitting his time at

00:33that year's Worlds and Wang a few months later at the Asian Games. And Wang proved he would be a

00:37tough obstacle for Marchand at the very first 50, where he actually had the lead, opening up the

00:42butterfly leg in 2465, just ahead of Marchand. Marchand took the lead on the backstroke leg,

00:48splitting a 2883. Despite this being Marchand's weakest stroke of the four, he still has the

00:53fastest split out of anyone in the field. This leg also saw Carson Foster and Duncan Scott move

00:59up to 3rd and 4th after being 7th and 8th at the first wall. And of course Marchand pressed his

01:04lead big time on the breaststroke, splitting a massive 3236, which is almost a second faster

01:10than the next fastest split, the split by Scott that moved him ahead of Foster and Wang into the

01:15second spot. Scott and Foster closed faster than Marchand, but it wasn't even close to enough,

01:20as Leon Marchand powered his way home to another gold medal in a blistering 15406.

01:26That is a new Olympic record, beating out Michael Phelps's 15423 from Beijing,

01:32and of course is just six hundredths away from Ryan Lochte's 15400 that survives another day

01:38as the world record. Duncan Scott extended his lead over Wang Chun on the final 50, as those two

01:43grabbed the silver and bronze, while Carson Foster ran out of room and missed the medals by just a

01:48tenth. That swim for Marchand moves him from the 4th to the 2nd fastest performer in the history

01:54of this event, and now sits lurking right behind Lochte's world record mark. Looking at the splits

01:58between this swim for Marchand, his old personal best, and the world record, we can spot some

02:03differences. Marchand was out a bit quicker on the start, going from just behind Lochte to just

02:08ahead. Unsurprisingly, Lochte has a very quick backstroke leg to be just ahead of Marchand's

02:14split at the 100. Notably, this is the only leg where Marchand was faster in 2023 than he was in

02:192024. Marchand was only just ahead of his former best time at the halfway mark, as he was out in

02:2553.55 compared to 53.60, so most of his time drop came on the back end. That started with the

02:31breaststroke split, as Marchand blasted a 32.36, far faster than his 2023 split or Lochte's split.

02:38Marchand closed his race in a 28.15, a touch faster than last year's world's, but of course,

02:44Lochte came flying home in his 2011 race with a 27.49 split. That 27.49 is going to be a problem

02:52for anyone that wants to crack this world record. Either you have to match it, or you have to have

02:56such a big lead that it won't catch you, both of which are pretty tough to do. Lochte was swimming

03:01with every ounce of effort he had those last 50 meters, as he was being chased by Phelps,

03:05who actually split a 27.36 in that same race. Being hunted down by the greatest swimmer ever?

03:11Yeah, that'll motivate you into a pretty quick split, and it's the kind of push that Marchand

03:16didn't have as he was well ahead of the rest of the field by that point. This world record by

03:20Lochte is an interesting piece of swimming history. It was the first world record to be broken

03:24after the super suit ban, and is one of the very rare instances where Michael Phelps swam a lifetime

03:30but got second. Marchand's 154.06 is an amazing swim, and one that certainly scares this long

03:36standing world record. With this win, Marchand completes a sweep of his individual races,

03:40going 4 for 4 in gold medals in front of a roaring home crowd. Which of Marchand's

03:45swims was the most impressive to you, and do you think he takes this world record down in a year?

03:49Let me know down below.

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