Leon Marchand closes Indy Cup with 200m medley victory

LOS ANGELES – Four-gold Olympic champion Leon Marchand, continuing his build-up to the swimming world championships in Singapore, capped the Indy Summer Cup meeting with a victory in the 200m individual medley on June 28.

The 23-year-old Frenchman, who took the Paris Olympics by storm with gold in the 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly and 200m and 400m individual medleys, clocked 1min 57.23sec with Hungary’s Hubert Kos second in 2:00.16.

Kos, who like Marchand trains in Texas under coach Bob Bowman, polished off a strong week with a victory in the 200m backstroke in 1:56.74, with Marchand second in 1:57.14.

Kos, the reigning Olympic and world champion in the 200m back, added the title to the 100m back and 200m butterfly titles he claimed on June 27.

Marchand added a second victory of the week after winning the 100m breaststroke on June 27 in 59.95sec – dipping under one minute in the event for the second time in his career.

American Regan Smith, also headed to Singapore later in July, completed an impressive week with victories in the 200m backstroke and the 200m medley to go with victories in the 200m fly and 100m back.

US swimmers triumphed in the 100m freestyle events. Chris Guiliano clocked 47.72sec to head a men’s final field that saw Kos finish fourth in 49.42sec and Marchand seventh in 49.70sec.

Simone Manuel won the women’s 100m free in 53.28sec, with Smith second in 54.15sec.

Meanwhile, after a disappointing Olympic campaign that yielded just one medal, Japan’s swimming team hope to improve their results at the 2028 Los Angeles Games by getting their athletes used to living in close quarters and facing challenges away from the pool.

In preparation for the world championships, national team members lived together in a “virtual athletes’ village” while competing at the Tokyo metropolitan championships in early June.

The camp, aimed at enabling athletes to thrive in unfamiliar environments, such as those at Olympic Games, proved to be a valuable experience, according to senior Japan Aquatics official Toshiaki Kurasawa.

“We got more out of it than we expected,” he said.

The exercise was held at Sea Forest Waterway, the 2020 Olympic canoeing and rowing venue on Tokyo Bay, located far from the nearest convenience stores and other amenities.

The athletes travelled some 20 minutes by bus to the competition venue, the Tokyo Aquatics Centre, just as they would at an Olympics.

Japan’s sole Paris Games medallist, men’s 400m IM silver winner Tomoyuki Matsushita, bunked in a room with seven teammates while competing at the metropolitan championships.

Despite poor sleep due to a roommate’s snoring, he was able to set a good time in the pool.

“We were able to achieve our goal of swimming decent times under less-than-ideal conditions,” he said. AFP, KYODO NEWS