Léon Marchand qualifies for the World Championships in the 200m breaststroke, but does not reach the minimum in the 100m backstroke

Léon Marchand achieved the necessary qualifying times for the World Swimming Championships in Singapore (July 27 to August 3) in the 200m breaststroke, but failed in the 100m backstroke on Saturday, May 17, at a meeting in Austin, Texas, in the United States.

In the 200m breaststroke, Marchand, who was celebrating his 23rd birthday, won his heat in 2 min 5 sec 85, the same time as his victory at the Paris Olympic Games last year, where he set the Olympic record, below the time of 2 min 9 sec 68 required by the French Federation to qualify. But in the 100m backstroke, the four-time Olympic champion clocked a time of 54 sec 55 above the Federation's minimum (53 sec 74).

On Friday, the French swimmer won his 400m medley heat in 4 min 12 sec 04, thus exceeding the minimum time (4 min 12 sec 50) in his favorite race, for which he holds the world record.

The French Swimming Federation announced on Thursday that Marchand would be exempt from swimming at the French Championships (June 14-19), but that he would still have to achieve the minimum times required during the season to qualify for the World Championships.

On Thursday, he failed to swim under the qualifying time in the 400m freestyle. However, two weeks earlier, he had managed to achieve it in the 200m individual medley.