Olympic champion Marchand to focus on medleys at worlds / Photo: Oli SCARFF - AFP/File
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Olympic champion Marchand to focus on medleys at worlds
French swimmer Leon Marchand is skipping two of the four events which brought him gold medal success at the Paris Olympics last year in the upcoming world championships in Singapore in order to challenge the 200m medley world record, his club president in Toulouse announced on Monday.
Marchand was one of the standout stars of the Paris Games when he claimed gold in the 200m breaststroke and 200m butterfly as well the 200m and 400m individual medleys.
However, he is now set to concentrate purely on the medley events.
"He won't be doing the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke," Michel Coloma of the Dauphins du TOEC club told AFP.
"He wants to see what happens in the 200m medley, without having any other races on his plate."
Marchand is already the world record holder for the 400m medley, having snatched it from American legend Michael Phelps in 2023, but he now wants a crack at Ryan Lochte's 2011 record of 1min 54.00sec for the 200m medley.
He came close in his Olympic final, which he won in 1min 54.06sec, setting an Olympic record in the process.
Marchand will begin his world championships on July 30 with the heats of the 200m medley, with the final the next day.
H.Thompson--AT