“I will try to do better than last year,” said Léon Marchand, the 2022 world champion swimmer in the 200m and 400m medley at a press conference on Wednesday. Back in his city, Toulouse for the occasion, after ten months in the United States where he trains with Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps.
“Last year I didn’t have too much experience at international level at the senior level, I managed to win two races, it was great, but I think I can do better,” he said. clarified, adding that the Worlds organized from July 14 to 30 in Fukuoaka (Japan) were his main objective for the season.
Previously, the 87 kg swimmer for 1.87 m will participate from Sunday under the colors of his Toulouse club Les Dauphins du TOEC, in the French championships which take place in Rennes from June 11 to 16. He will compete there in the 200m breaststroke, 200m crawl, 200m medley, 400m medley, 100 and 200m butterfly. In this competition, Léon Marchand, 21, intends above all to achieve his best times, in order to qualify for the Worlds.
Very proud of his champion, Michel Coloma, general manager of the Dauphins du TOEC, emblematic club of the Pink City founded in 1908, declared: “it’s a bit like the Mbappé of swimming or the Dupont of rugby.” “He is one of those structured sportsmen who have their heads on their shoulders who know what they are doing, why they are doing it and how they are doing it”.
