How a sleepless Leon Marchand clinched gold at Swimming World Championships day after breaking world record

French swimming superstar Leon Marchand won 200m medley world gold on Thursday despite having struggled to sleep after smashing the world record the previous day.

The 23-year-old Paris Olympics hero wiped more than a second off Ryan Lochte’s 2011 mark in Wednesday’s semifinals, setting a new best of 1:52.69.

He did not reach the same level in the final but his title-winning time of 1:53.68 was still the second-fastest of all time.

Marchand said he struggled to come down from the adrenaline rush of breaking the record in Singapore. “I felt so excited yesterday that I couldn’t sleep, so I was enjoying the moment too yesterday a lot,” he said.

“So I think I lost a lot of energy yesterday night, but it was my goal to break the record, so I was really happy with it. And then today was a different mood.”

Marchand is focusing on the medley events in Singapore and had said at the outset that he was aiming to break the 200m medley record.
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Marchand was made to work hard for the title, with American Shaine Casas pushing him hard before finishing second in 1:54.30, with Hungary’s Hubert Kos third in 1:55.34.

It gave Marchand, who won four individual gold medals in front of his home fans at the Paris Olympics a year ago, his first crown of the Singapore championships. It was the sixth world title of Marchand’s career.

“I’m just so happy to be at my highest level right now, competing in front of this pretty cool crowd,” he said.

Marchand took an extended break from swimming after his Paris Olympics feats and only returned to competition in May.

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He is focusing on the medley events in Singapore and had said at the outset that he was aiming to break the 200m medley record.

He will race again in Singapore in the 400m medley, the event where he broke American great Michael Phelps’s long-standing world record two years ago in Japan.

Marchand said he was “in good shape” for the 400m medley. “There’s always a bit of doubt when you arrive at a big competition,” he said.

“This time I came into the competition with a great performance. I’m fresher than usual. It’s a whole new challenge for me,” he added.