Léon Marchand shone during the last Olympic Games in Paris. At only 22 years old, the young man won the gold medal in the 400 meter medley and broke the Olympic record at the same time. He continued his exploits and won the final of the 200 meter butterfly on July 31, then that of the 200 meter breaststroke. On August 2, again, since Léon Marchand won a fourth gold medal in the 200-meter medley and broke a new Olympic record. He followed that up with a bronze medal in the men's 4 × 100 meter medley relay with Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Maxime Grousset and Florent Manaudou and ended the adventure in style since he was chosen to recover the Olympic flame located in the Tuileries garden and extinguish the cauldron.
After the Paris Games, the world champion decided to take some time to rest. “I took a long vacation, I tried to enjoy it. I also had moments that were a bit alone during which I was able to reflect and think about what I did. I took a step back a lot, I realized what happened.”he explained in particular to Parisian. Then, this Saturday, November 30, the young man admitted to needing more time to take care of his health. While he was to participate in the Short Course World Championships from December 10 to 15, in Budapest, Léon Marchand announced that he would not go. In a message in English, he wrote on his Instagram story: “I have decided to withdraw from the World Championships in Budapest. The year 2024 was really intense. I've done a lot of big competitions and I'm exhausted.” “It's time for me to step back, train hard and tackle future challenges. I know you will understand and I am excited for what awaits me.”, he concluded optimistically.
What will be the next step for Léon Marchand?
On November 1, the four-time Olympic champion of the Paris Olympic Games participated in three stages of the Short Course World Cup in Asia, and notably broke the world record in the 200m medley. Then, the following November 10, he participated in his last competition to represent his club during the Interclubs in Montauban. His next big goal should be the World Championships in Singapore in the summer of 2025, where he will put his 200m and 400m medley titles, as well as the 200m butterfly, on the line.
Last August, journalist Philippe Lafon spoke about the state of health of Léon Marchand during his appearance on the show What Games!presented by Léa Salamé and Matthieu Lartot. “Even when he's tired, he's not bad. He won his semi-final to be placed in the main row tomorrow evening in the final. It's strong. (…) Afterwards, there is what we see and what he says. What he said afterwards in the interview was: 'There, I'm starting to feel tired.' He warned us!
