Astride Belanger
On the night of Friday to Saturday, on the occasion of the NCAA finals in Minneapolis, the French swimmer Léon Marchand once again distinguished himself, this time in the 400 yards medley but also on the 4×100 yards medley relay.
Léon Marchand never stops. On the night of Friday to Saturday, the swimmer shone again in the NCAA finals which are currently taking place on the side of Minneapolis. Indeed, on this occasion, the Frenchman signed a total of two new and impressive records. The Habs won the 400-yard medley event.
Over this distance, Marchand became the first man to go below the symbolic bar of 3’30”. With, more precisely, a time of 3’28”82. The Frenchman finished well ahead. Above all, ahead of Hugo Gonzalez. The outgoing NCAA champion had to settle for second place on the day, in a time of 3’34”66. The podium was completed by Carson Foster, in a time of 3’36”02. The latter is the one who had finished, each time, second, when Léon Marchand had been crowned world champion in the distances of 200 meters medley and 400 meters medley, on the occasion of the last world swimming championships disputed this summer.
“I didn’t believe what I saw”
At the end of this NCAA finals race, Léon Marchand spoke, in comments reported by the French sports daily The Team : “I didn’t believe what I was seeing. This morning (Friday), it was quite difficult. I had to get up early when I hadn’t slept well. I must have still been too excited for the 200 y 4 medley. »
Earlier that same day, Léon Marchand had set a time of 3’34”47, the best time in the playoffs, to then start from lane number four during the grand finale. Subsequently, the French again distinguished himself, this time in the relay. On the 4×100 yards medley, the Habs became the fastest in relay history, in breaststroke. The little protege of Bob Bowman therefore continues to impress and above all, to panic the lap times.
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