“We can change swimming” - reigning NCAA champion Leon Marchand ecstatic after breaking his own record
Reigning NCAA champion Leon Marchand has had a dream start to 2023. He recently reset his own record of 200m with a blistering time of 1:36.34.
After breaking the record, Marchand spoke to SwimSwam about his amazing performance.
"We can change swimming by doing this. Just take it out faster than we think we are capable of. I feel like doing 50 by 50. I mean, you need to train before right-above-right. Because you're gonna die. But when you do 50 by 50 and you don't think about the rest. [It's] Just easier mentally to go for it so that's what I did."
Leon Marchand speaks after resetting his own record
The 400m individual medley European record holder has been on a spree of breaking and creating records since last year.
When asked about his '50 by 50' tactic in the 200m individual medley, Leon Marchand said,
"It's changing a little bit. Before, I was kind of scared of not finishing it. But I think you build this confidence by training hard. And I think the past season I've been working on that. Not being able to take out faster every single race so.."
Later on, Leon Marchand was asked about being slow in the free split and what his plans are to improve in that area, he said:
"Yeah definitely. I've been changing my way to work in the water since one year now. After worlds, I think because I feel like that's how you can improve. Even today I found some mistakes that I can do better next time. That's how we work with the coaches and stuff. So I know next time we'll try to go faster. I don't think there is a limit to it."
Marchand was then asked about his coach Bob Bowman mentioning his breasts being on and off sometimes. He replied to that question by speaking,
"Yeah, it definitely wasn't, I felt like I didn't touch the water. That was actually crazy. Yeah, my training have been like kind of not consistent in breaststroke. Because I don't find my stroke like the meet. But I'm not worried about it I'm just training it. And I know that the meet with the Tech student, by shaving my taper I will be ready."
When asked about training with legendary Michael Phelps' coach Bob Bowman, Leon Marchand said:
"I feel very confident with Bob. Because the training we're doing is very hard. It's way harder than what we're doing. Now so after the process is done, it was just enjoying things and that's what I learned from him."
Leon Marchand was also asked about how he keeps his temperament maintained with such big targets.
"It's definitely a hard task because everyone is like kind of doing stuff about me. But I've been improving a lot I'm not watching any like Social Media and stuff. But I need to get better for Paris next year. So I'm just improving and training on that. So yeah, I'm just enjoying it now."
Marchand also spoke about watching Caeleb Dressel and why he idolized him.
"I've been watching a lot of Caeleb Dressel's all the races. I love the, the way he's like swimming his races. And I'm trying to... to focus on underwater. I think like him. So I'm trying to get better on that, but I'm pretty good."