India’s Shoan Ganguly finishes 38th in 200m medley
SINGAPORE, July 30: Léon Marchand broke the world record in the 200-meter individual medley on Wednesday at the world championships in Singapore, clocking 1 minute, 52.61 seconds to surpass the 1:54.00 set in 2011 by American Ryan Lochte.
The Frenchman set the mark swimming in the semifinals and, in theory, could break it again in Thursday’s finals.
Marchand won four Olympic gold medals a year ago in Paris, but he’s swimming only the 200 and 400 medley – and relays – in Singapore. Planning the lighter schedule in what he calls a “transition year” keeps him fresh to chase the world marks.
Marchand didn’t just break the 14-year-old record, he shattered it.
“What’s crazy is that it’s a whole second – and it’s still hard to believe,” he said. “1:52 on the 200 meters – that’s insane.” Marchand will swim the 400 IM on Sunday, the final day of the world championships. He holds that record of 4:02.50 set in the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka, Japan. And it seems likely to go.
“Today I felt really good before the race,” he said.
“In the water, I felt light, I was taking in a lot of water and technically everything felt clean.” Asked about swimming a lighter schedule he replied in an understatement:
“It was probably the right decision.” Marchand was about 1.8 seconds under the world record after 150 meters and powered home with the final freestyle leg.
Though this race did not yield a world title – that will come on Thursday in the final – it did win Marchand a check for $30,000.
“In the end I went out hard from the start,” he said. “But I stayed super-relaxed. I didn’t make many mistakes. I didn’t realize I was going that fast but I gave it absolutely everything. Arms at full speed all the way to the wall. At that point I wasn’t even thinking about technique anymore.”
More than Marchand
Despite being only a semifinal, Marchand overshadowed the five finals on Day 4 of the worlds – the halfway mark with four days more to go.
Those finals produced medals for the United States, Australia, Italy, Tunisia, and the Neutral Athletes.
American Luca Urlando picked up the third gold medal for the United States in the championships, winning the 200 butterfly in 1:51.87. Krzysztof Chmielewski of Poland was second in 1:52.64 with bronze for Harrison Turner of Australia in 1:54.17.
Urlando has battled back from several surgeries for his first big title on the world stage.
“It was a great race – all great — a great moment,” he said. “I’m trying to have as much fun as I can with it.”
He was asked how he overcame the setbacks and he replied: “The belief that I could get back to a moment like this. Internal belief.”
Mollie O’Callaghan of Australia, the defending Paris Olympic champion in the 200 freestyle, repeated her title in the worlds, pulling away in the last 50 to finish in 1:53.48. Li Bingjie of China was the silver medalist in 1:54.52, with bronze going to American Claire Weinstein in 1:54.57.
O’Callaghan has had a difficult time coming back after the Olympic victory, dealing with the stress and the post-games letdown.
India’s Ganguly
Indian swimmer Shoan Ganguly finished 38th in the men’s 200m medley on day four the World Aquatics Championships here on Wednesday.
The 20-year-old from Karnataka clocked 2:05.40s to finish eighth in his heat and 38th overall, failing to progress to the 16-swimmer semifinals.
Reigning Olympic champion Leon Marchand topped the heats. The 23-year-old Frenchman clocked 1:57.63s, while Australia’s David Schlicht (1:59.50) was the last swimmer to make the semifinals. (PTI)