“When he is happy, a swimmer goes faster”, assures Léon Marchand

• Every Monday,

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  gives the floor to a sports actor or actress who is making the news.

  This week, place for swimmer Léon Marchand.

• The young man from Toulouse is one of the main chances of a medal, or even a title, at the long course world championships in Budapest, Hungary, from June 18 to July 3.

  With a view, already, of the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

• French record holder in the 200m medley and 400m medley, Marchand has made enormous progress since his departure for the United States, under the aegis of Bob Bowman, the former coach of Michael Phelps.

The Covid has not only disrupted hospitals.

It has also turned sports calendars upside down, including swimming.

An edition of the long course world championships has thus been added in Budapest, from June 18 to July 3, and will be followed by the European championships in Rome, from August 11 to 21.

The ambitious Léon Marchand has a good chance of making a name for himself in Hungary and then in Italy.

A huge hope for the French basins, the versatile 20-year-old from Toulouse joined Arizona State last August, the day after the Tokyo Olympics, marked in particular by a promising 6th place in the final of the 400m medley.

On the Phoenix side, the still member of the Dauphins du Toec, son and nephew of champions, is studying computer programming.

But it shines above all in the water, under the leadership of Bob Bowman.

former mentor of Michael Phelps, the most successful athlete and the most medalist in the history of the Olympic Games (28 medals, including 23 gold).

Not the worst choice when you also aspire to shine at the Olympics, if possible from 2024 in Paris.

In April, in an article in the "Parisien", your trainer at the Dauphins du Toec Nicolas Castel set the bar high: a podium or even a world title in the 400m medley.

What inspires you?

I train every day to get a medal at the world championships.

With what I have done during the various competitions of the year (including the best performance of the year over this distance in 4'10''38, on March 31 in San Antonio), I think that I will not be far.

Even if we cannot predict what will happen on D-Day.

You are involved in two other events in Budapest, the 200m butterfly and the 200m medley.

Do you have less chances of medals on these distances?

Not necessarily.

"Scientifically" speaking, it's actually in the 400m medley that I have the best chance.

But I don't have a main stroke.

I will try to do the best I can in each one.

The "pap" (butterfly) is still my swim a little weaker compared to the 200 m medley and the 400 m medley but I think I can also do good times there and I'm not very far from a medal.

Will you swim the same events at the "Europe" in Rome?

I think I will do the 200m breaststroke there in addition to the 200m medley and the 400m medley.

And maybe also the 200m butterfly… What is certain is that there will be breaststroke.

Between the two competitions I will train with Nicolas Castel in Toulouse and I will take part in the Spanish championships at the end of July.

What is the difference between the Léon Marchand of August 2021 and that of today, after this American season?

Already, I have evolved a lot physically.

In bodybuilding, I did more “weightlifting”, more explosiveness.

I am much more powerful.

Mentally, I gained autonomy and a lot of experience because I swam a lot in the NCAA (the university championship in the United States).

I did a lot of races, a lot of relays.

In competition, I now manage to throw myself on the wall to win the race.

I swam a lot with Bob (Bowman).

I improved in backstroke, in crawl.

I have more assets than before.

I just swim faster.

You talk about mental progress.

Do you follow a specific preparation?

Yes, I worked a lot with my mental trainer, Thomas Sammut (who also worked with Florent Manaudou and Camille Lacourt).

This allows me to be more relaxed before competitions and to unleash my full potential.

Everything is better.

I started with him about a year and a half ago.

I work in video when I need it.

We try to do a little more before the competitions.

He gives me breathing exercises, ways that allow me to let go more in the water.

University swimming in the United States, is it really another world compared to what you had experienced in France?

Yes, it's a bit like in the movies actually (laughs).

I was expecting that a bit, but living it is quite different.

The sports culture is very developed.

Everyone moves when there is a swimming competition, football (American)… What I liked the most was the university championship.

We train every day with the same team.

It's like Ligue 1. We stay with the same people, we get along really well.

We try to earn points for the team.

Can we speak of a team sport mentality in an individual sport?

It's a bit like that.

So there's a lot more fun.

In France, I have the impression that we are a little too boring.

It's complicated to stay in the system for a long time, to do a lot of volume and in the end to have one competition a year where you swim for two minutes and it's over, before going back to training.

The American system allows you to have more smiles in training, to be happier to stay in the water, because you know that on Sunday you are going to compete in California.

And when he is happy, a swimmer goes faster.

The fact of repeating the competitions, of facing each other in training, it allows you to be better.

Léon Marchand became, last night, the fastest swimmer in the history of the 200 yards 4 strokes at the American University Championship 👀🇫🇷

Happy Friday huh!

pic.twitter.com/8LbhunquJT

– Team France (@EquipeFRA) March 25, 2022

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How is your relationship with Bob Bowman going?

I was very impressed at first.

But he's really a great coach, with a lot of experience.

I know that I will be ready for all competitions with him.

And then he's really relaxed.

He had a lot of results, suddenly he is more cool, we have a lot of fun in training while knowing in which direction we are going, what we want to do.

There is a connection that has been created between us.

You have already broken quite a few records in the United States.

Did you manage a first season beyond your expectations?

It's clear.

At the start, I told myself that the first year I was going to discover, calm, but I got caught up in the game. This point system, all that… There is everything to progress.

Every morning I get up saying to myself: “I'm fine here, I don't want to go back”.

I progressed a lot from the first year, much more than I thought.

It allows me to change my long-term goals, to say to myself: “Here, I can do this, now we are moving on to the next step.

»

More generally, how is your life as a student going?

Practices start at 6:00 a.m. until 7:30 a.m.

Then we have a little siesta, then lessons – usually from 10 a.m. until noon or 1 p.m. – and training in the afternoon from 2 p.m. to 4 p.m.

Then we are quiet, even if we often have homework to do.

We go to bed very early and we get up very early.

I live in Tempe, the college town of Phoenix.

Phoenix is ​​huge, if you don't have a car, you don't do much.

On the other hand, in Tempe, everything is done on foot.

There are only students, the city is really cool.

And around there is the desert, it is very very hot with two days of rain a year.

You have been presented as the new prodigy of French swimming for a few years.

Does it put pressure, and if so, does the distance help to manage it?

Going abroad allowed me to focus on what I do best: swimming.

People like to watch me swim, it's pretty positive.

The negative side is the waiting and the pressure but I think I worked well mentally, which helps me manage well.

I'm continuing to learn but I'm making a lot of progress on this point and it allows me to let go more in competition, not to think of others and to be “focus” on myself.

You are still licensed at the Dauphins du Toec despite the thousands of kilometers away...

Yes, because if things went badly in the United States, I would have returned to France and I didn't want to be on the street.

With Nico (Castel), we have had a great relationship from the start.

Bob often says it: the technical base I have is thanks to Nico.

I wanted to include it in the project.

In international competitions, he is present and when I return to France, I am more serene to train with a coach like him than with someone else.

In fact, the contact is between Bob, Nico and me.

There is a lot of communication, we exchange training programs, feelings, strategies.

I have two coaches!

Since you started your career at the top level, you say that your goal is to be an Olympic champion.

In Paris, it would be good, wouldn't it?

(Laughs) I want to be an Olympic champion when I'm ready.

I think I will be ready in Paris.

There's also Los Angeles next (in 2028) so I'm not putting too much pressure on myself.

But in France, yes, it would be good.

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