Léon Marchand caresses Michael Phelps' 400m IM record

Reflected in the mirror of the Danube pool, Katalin Kovák, president of Hungary and historical leader of the nationalist Fidesz party, proclaimed this Saturday that Hungarians like "impossible missions", and that the organization of the World Swimming Championships in four months It had been “an impossible mission”.

The populist Viktor Orbán intends to take political advantage of the championship that his government presented before the first online swimming finals were held, marked by the explosive irruption of Frenchman Léon Marchand in the

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Attacking the barrier of four minutes and four seconds in the 400-meter medley is a much more difficult challenge than organizing a swimming tournament in a pool built six years ago.

This is what the beardless Marchand did, almost albino blond, with transparent eyebrows, a monkfish mouth and an enchanted gaze.

His consistency in the two lengths of the butterfly and the two lengths of the backstroke helped him stay on Carson Foster's wave and, after turning to the breaststroke partial, he began to impress an unusual force in the unstable water until he was four seconds ahead of the American .

When he finished the turn into the free swim he was going at a world record pace.

He swam in a realm that seemed inaccessible to all mankind except Michael Phelps.

Marchand touched the last plate in 4m 04.28s and hung up the gold.

He had a meter left over to break the record set by Phelps in the final of the Beijing Games in 2008. Those 4m 3.84s represent a magical milestone in the history of the sport.

No one but Phelps went under 4.04s in this test.

The gifted swimmer from Baltimore achieved it armed with an extraordinary wingspan and phenotype, relying on his gift to make the levers of the butterfly, and exalted by the adrenaline rush of finding himself at the age of 23 before the greatest challenge of his life in a Games.

Marchand came closer than anyone.

Not exceeding 1.84 meters tall, for the time being, and with more moderate limbs than his predecessor, he swam in the wake of the giant in Budapest.

His scant 20 years invite one to think that France has in the boy from Toulouse the predestined hero to shine as host at the 2024 Paris Games. A ton of pressure awaits Marchand.

He has the best tools to manage it.

He is accompanied by none other than Bob Bowman, the eccentric coach from Georgia who, before being his mentor, was in charge of designing Phelps' career.

Sun Devils

After the Tokyo Games, where he was sixth, Bowman recruited him to the University of Arizona.

This season he won the NCAA college championships for the Sun Devils with an all-time best in the 200-yard sprint.

"Five years ago I watched the World Cups in Budapest on television and now I'm here," he said;

“I still have to get used to the idea of ​​what I have achieved”.

He had just come out of the water and seemed surprised by a mark that puts him above the usual great masters: Ryan Lochte (4m 05.18s), Kosuke Hagino (4m 06.05s) or Laszclo Cseh (4m 06.16s).

Marchand was the great sensation of the first day of the World Cups.

Less surprising were Katie Ledecky, winner of her fourth 400 free world title, and Caeleb Dressel, the United States' gold leader in the 400 free relay.

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