In American academic circles, it is called the “March Madness”. “March Madness”, the finale of the sports season where the best students in the country compete in their discipline. Near the Indiana University Natatorium, it was renamed the “Merchant madness.”
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Two resounding records in two days. As soon as Léon Marchand sets off from the starting point, all we see is him. Or more precisely, everyone except him: the Toulouse native disappears for long seconds beneath the surface during his endless casts, even more spectacular in a 25 yard (22.86 m) pool.
Thursday evening March 28, in the 500 yard freestyle, after only two lengths (out of twenty), he had already completed the race. Bob Bowman’s student finally cut his own record by almost four seconds (4:02:31), relegating his runner-up to more than four seconds. “It was a race where I had fun. The NCAAs are an environment that I love, with a great atmosphere, and I also swim for my team. Tonight, I didn’t really know what my limit was.” reacted the 21-year-old swimmer, as fluent in English as in the water lines.
The day before, he had already been the first man to go under 1 min 29 in the 200 yard freestyle relay.
With his frizz still damp, barely out of the pool, Zalan Sarkany measures the gap that separates him from his teammate from Arizona State University (ASU). “He’s one of the biggest competitors, he goes incredibly fast in the water. I can’t really compete with him…well not yet,” bows the young 20-year-old Hungarian, praising his “lion mentality”.
“Perfection in the water”
Since his arrival in August 2021 in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix, the “Frenchie” has been like a fish in water… at the edge of the desert. Among the 55,000 students on campus, the five-time world champion is one student among others. “Sweet”, “kind”, the two adjectives appear on everyone’s lips when it comes to evoking the personality of the Frenchman. The discreet nature of the 21-year-old contrasts with his role as a pillar with the Sun Devils, the nickname of his team.
“ASU” sweatshirt on the shoulders, Elizabeth Colson, Patrick Colson’s mother, remembers that “the first year Patrick arrived [à Tempe], he swam fast, but the following year, when Léon arrived, his progress was obvious. My son told us: “He changed the way I swim.” The cheerful fifty-year-old does not have enough superlatives to describe the phenomenon formed on the banks of the Garonne: “Watching him swim is a pleasure for the eyes, it’s perfection in the water. He is absolutly magnificent. »
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