Leon Marchand sets first world record at World Aquatics C’ships in Singapore

SINGAPORE – French superstar Leon Marchand justified his decision to compete in only individual medleys at the World Aquatics Championships (WCH) in Singapore as he broke the men’s 200m medley world record in 1min 52.69sec in the semi-finals on July 30.

The four-gold champion at the Paris Olympics went for it from the opening butterfly leg, kept pace in the backstroke and started pulling further away from the world record line in the breaststroke and final freestyle leg at the WCH Arena.

Not only did he go way under his own personal best of 1:54.06, he also took more than a second off Ryan Lochte’s previous mark of 1:54.00 set in 2011.

The 23-year-old, who received US$30,000 (S$38,750) for his feat, said: “I knew I was going to get close to my PB because I felt really good today, and the preparation has been pretty good, so I was really excited to race. But 1:52 is unbelievable for me.

“(Focusing on the medleys) was probably the right decision. So, I’m grateful for my coaches and all the staff behind me. It’s been a really hard season for me, but I’m happy to be here and do that.”

The 200m medley final takes place on July 31, while his next event, the 400m medley, will be held on Aug 3 with the heats in the morning and final in the evening. Marchand also holds the 400m medley world record.

Singapore has proven to be a lucky ground for him. After the Paris Games, where he won both medleys and the men’s 200m breaststroke and butterfly, he claimed the men’s individual ranking title at the short-course World Aquatics Swimming World Cup in Singapore in November.

But things did not go his way after that as he dislocated his shoulder in December and fractured his rib in early 2025. He resumed training in March and returned to competition a month later, before getting back to his devastating best in Singapore to deliver the first world record at this meet.

In the mixed 4x100m medley relay, neutral athletes from Russia – Miron Lifintsev, Kirill Prigoda, Daria Klepikova and Daria Trofimova – also threatened to break the world record from Lane 1 before settling for a championship record in 3:37.97.

They eclipsed the United States’ 3:38.56 mark set in 2017, but missed out on the Americans’ world-leading time of 3:37.43 registered at Paris 2024.

There were also reasons for old and new champions to smile in the evening’s other finals.

After finishing fourth, sixth and ninth in the men’s 800m, 1,500m and 400m freestyle respectively at the Paris 2024 Olympics, Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi “got into some kind of depression”.

Not even winning the 1,500m gold and 800m bronze at the short-course world championships in December cheered him up as the 20-year-old said: “I didn’t go back to training until March... I wasn’t ready to go back to training.”

But he was back to his cheeky best, smiling widely and pulling off the aura farming dance celebration after he won the men’s 800m freestyle in Singapore in 7:36.88, more than three seconds ahead of Germany’s Sven Schwarz (7:39.96) and Lukas Martens (7:40.19), for his first long-course world title.

Ireland’s defending champion Daniel Wiffen, who struggled with appendicitis in June, led up to the 250m mark but faded to finish last in 7:58.56 after his “stomach went to pieces”.

Ahmed, who recorded an impressive negative split – 3:48.92 in the first half and 3:47.96 in the last 400m – with his unique style of bobbing his head entirely underwater in between breaths, said: “This means a lot, it’s the third-best time ever, it feels great. It makes me really happy.

“To be honest, I didn’t train on a high level for that long. I just started training like one year ago. One year before the Paris Olympics, I wasn’t really a hard worker as I was just focusing more on school.

“So, for my second year as a professional athlete training at a high intensity and high level, this is a good start.”

Five-time Olympic champion Mollie O’Callaghan also rediscovered her joy for swimming, winning the women’s 200m freestyle gold in 1:53.48 after struggling with the post-Olympics hangover and a knee injury, as China’s Li Bingjie (1:54.52) and American Claire Weinstein (1:54.67) filled the podium.

The 21-year-old Australian said: “Coming here was one of the last things I thought I would do at the start of the year. If you told me I would become world champion again, I would be shocked so it’s quite unbelievable to stand on the podium for my country again.

“Heading into this week has been a whirlwind. Having a big long break after the Olympics was well needed.

“I am so thankful to have an amazing coach to guide me through this difficult time. I know it has been hard for a lot of people to come back after the Olympics, but I am very grateful to have good support from the team to get me through this mentally and physically.”

Elsewhere, there were also first long-course world championship golds for men’s 200m butterfly winner Luca Urlando of the United States (1:51.87), and men’s 50m breaststroke winner Simone Cerasuolo of Italy (26.54).

There was also a shock as Chinese men’s 100m freestyle defending champion and world record holder Pan Zhanle finished 10th overall in the semi-finals and missed out on the eight-man final on July 31.

The 20-year-old said: “To put it plainly, I just wasn’t in good shape today. I’ll continue to work hard.”