Swimming World Championships: Léon Marchand in poor form in the 400m medley

In poor form, Léon Marchand qualified for the 400m medley final at the World Swimming Championships with just the seventh fastest time in the heats on Sunday, the final day of competition in Singapore. Marchand swam his eight lengths in 4 minutes 13.19 seconds, well behind the leader, Japan's Asaki Nishikawa (4 minutes 10.41 seconds).

"I would have preferred to have the best time this morning. But it didn't go as planned. I was struggling a bit," reacted the Frenchman, who said he was somewhat "worried" about his time. "It's weird because I slept well, I felt good this morning. But that's swimming, so sometimes you dive in and you don't feel good. I still tried to do the first 200m. But even then, I was a bit strong, not necessarily relaxed, so it wasn't great."

Marchand, crowned 200m medley world champion for the third time in his career on Thursday, July 31, will therefore be entered in the final at lane number 1, not ideal for race management.

"I'll only see one way. It's not a big deal, I'll try to run my race. But it's true that it will be more difficult to control the race. I won't be able to hide, I'll have to go from the start," he explained. The final is scheduled for Sunday at 7:59 p.m. (1:59 p.m. Paris time).

The men's 4x100m medley relay team will also compete in the final after finishing the heats with the seventh-fastest time among the entries. Comprised of Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (backstroke), Jérémie Delbois (breaststroke), Clément Secchi (butterfly), and Maxime Grousset (front crawl), the relay team could be joined by Marchand in the evening.

The final, however, was scheduled just half an hour after the 400m medley. The surprise came from the unexpected eliminations of the Chinese, the reigning Olympic champions, as well as the Australians.