SINGAPORE, July 31: Leon Marchand said it would take a few months for it to sink in after smashing the 200m individual medley world record in Singapore on Wednesday, two years after beating Michael Phelps's 400m mark.
Swimming in the semi-finals at the world championships, the 23-year-old Frenchman clocked 1min 52.69sec to wipe more than a second off the previous 200m IM record of 1:54.00 set by Ryan Lochte in 2011.
Marchand now owns both medley world records after taking down Phelps's 400m mark at the 2023 world championships.
That time had stood since the 2008 Beijing Olympics and was the American great's last remaining record.
Marchand became a national hero in France after winning four individual golds at the Paris Olympics a year ago.
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He said it would take time to come to terms with his latest feat.
"I'm going to try to sleep well tonight," he said.
"It's going to be tough tomorrow but the final is going to be cool.
"I'm going to try to understand what I've just done. It may take a few months, and after I'll look at what's next."
Marchand took an extended break from swimming after his Paris Olympics heroics and only returned to competition in May.
He is focusing on the medley events in Singapore and had said he was going for Lochte's record.
Marchand got his world championship campaign under way on Wednesday morning, clocking a time of 1:57.63 in the heats.
He said he would go all-out for the record in the semi-finals rather than conserve his energy for Thursday's final
"For me it's a victory," he said.
"I still have a little trouble believing it but I'm so happy, it was so good. It's all the strength work that I've done this year."
