"I was in a bit of a tough spot": Léon Marchand narrowly reaches the final of the 400m medley at the World Swimming Championships
The Tricolore had to settle for seventh in the heats. Exiled to an outside lane, he complicated his quest for a third world title over the distance...
By Éric Bruna , From our special correspondent in Singapore"It's not just the legs that are heavy..." On Sunday morning, Léon Marchand had a close call in the 400m medley heats, the event in which he is the Olympic champion, two-time world champion, and world record holder. The Toulouse native, used to reigning supreme over the distance, came through the back door to secure a lane in the final (13:59 in France).
Seventh in the morning (4:13:19), the leader of the French team is less than seven tenths ahead of the first eliminated player. A long way behind the Japanese Matsushita, his runner-up last year at the Paris Olympics.
"It wasn't intentional, " sighs the Tricolore . "I would have preferred to do a better time but it didn't happen. I was struggling a bit, it's weird because I slept well. I still tried to send the first 200m but even then, I was strong, not necessarily relaxed."
The four-time Olympic champion even struggled with his glides, where he normally makes the difference. "4'13, I think at the last World Championships I swam 4'09 in the morning," he analyzed. "Yes, that worries me. Then, I got a line tonight and in the end it went through. The hundredths were on my side. I was lucky, it will be better in the final."
For once, there's no need to look for his white cap with the little blue-white-red flag on block 4, in the center of the pool. The time of Bob Bowman's protégé will banish him to the outside, which isn't likely to make his task any easier.
"I'll only be looking at one side, it's not a big deal," he said. "I'll try to run my race, I'll only be looking at one side. It will be harder to build the race, we'll have to go all out from the start."
A good half hour after his final, Marchand must continue with the 4 x 100 m medley relay (also seventh in the series with Ndoye Brouard, Delbois, Secchi and Grousset) to do the breaststroke. " I want to do both , even if physically it won't be easy," he smiles before going to do his recovery and nap. But I have to concentrate especially on the 400 m medley. We'll see after. I'm going to try to recover as much as possible."
His teammates are counting on him to help them get onto the podium like last year at La Défense (bronze) as part of a quartet that will include all of Singapore's individual medalists (two titles for Grousset in the 50m butterfly and 100m butterfly, two bronzes for Ndoye Brouard in the 100m backstroke and 200m backstroke, and gold in the 200m medley for Marchand). "The Olympic champions (China) are out there, " says Yohann Ndoye Brouard . "There's a great medal to be won..."
Le Parisien
