Europe 1 with AFP / Photo credit: KEMPINAIRE Stéphane / KMSP / KMSP via AFP 22:30 p.m., June 11, 2023

Where did Léon Marchand stop? The French swimmer has just struck another blow by breaking the France record in the 200m breaststroke at the France Championships held in Rennes. Léon Marchand even missed the world record by 64 hundredths.

Léon Marchand broke his own France record in the 200m breaststroke on Sunday in Rennes at the France Swimming Championships, and set the best world performance of the year, less than a second short of the world record. The 21-year-old Frenchman, a new phenomenon in French and world swimming, swam in 2 min 06 sec 59/100, missing the world record of Australian Zac Stubblety-Cook by 64 hundredths (2 min 05 sec 95/100). He set the fourth fastest time in history over the distance and improved his previous France record by more than two seconds.

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"It was cool!"

"It was cool! I went a little deep. I struggled a bit in the last 50m, normal," he said. His time is therefore more than enough to achieve the minima required by the French Federation for the World Championships in five weeks, but the Toulouse native has already announced that he will not compete in this race in Japan, the schedule of events does not allow him.

Spectators at the Rennes swimming pool will see the French prodigy again on Monday for the 200m freestyle, then every day until the end of the competition on Friday.