INDIANAPOLIS — The man who could be the face of the Paris Olympics obliterated a record, sent gasps through the Natatorium and lit up social media.
What Leon Marchand, a 21-year-old French swimmer, did Thursday could only be characterized as Phelpsian. It so happens that his Arizona State coach, Bob Bowman, also coached Michael Phelps, owner of a record 23 Olympic gold medals.
Marchand, on the second of four nights at the NCAA Championships, swam to a time of 4:02.31 in the 500-yard freestyle. He was nearly four seconds faster than the NCAA record, 4:06.18, he set March 7 in the final Pac-12 meet. And Marchand was more than four seconds ahead of Texas’ Luke Hobson, whose 4:06.93 approached the American record of 4:06.32.
(Sanctioning bodies do not recognize world records in a 25-yard pool, although Marchand effectively broke a world record.)
“Tonight I had like no limits,” he said. “I was just trying to go for it from the very beginning. I didn’t have a pace in mind. Let’s see how fast I can go.”
Kyle Sockwell, who posts about swimming on “X,” formerly Twitter, tweeted:
“one of the craziest things I’ve ever seen happen in water.”
NBC analyst Rowdy Gaines tweeted:
“4:02.31 in a 500 yard freestyle … come on man.”
Arizona State is the team favorite and has backed it up, leading with 201 points through seven events. California is second with 169, Florida third with 161 and Indiana fourth with 107.
There are seven French media representatives here reporting on Marchand, who is regarded as the world’s top swimmer and the host nation’s best hope for Olympic glory. He won five individual golds at the 2023 and 2022 World Championships.
The 500 freestyle was the sixth individual NCAA title by Marchand, who last year won the 200 breaststroke and both individual medleys.
Marchand went out so fast, covering 200 yards in 1:33.12, that the time would have qualified him for NCAAs in the 200 freestyle – and he still had 300 yards to swim.
“I think the pace I was on was kind of crazy, the first 200,” he acknowledged. “I was just trying to hold on. It was a painful race.”
On Wednesday night, he led off Arizona State’s 4x200 freestyle relay in 1:28.97 to break the NCAA record (and unrecognized world record). That came shortly after Hobson set an American record of 1:29.13, which was an NCAA record for a few minutes.
Marchand eclipsed all other swims, although notable behind him was Florida senior Jake Mitchell, an Olympian from Carmel.
Mitchell is better at long course meters (Olympic pools) than short course yards, but his B-final time of 4:10.48 in the 500 freestyle was fourth-fastest overall. He was 11th in prelims in 4:11.50, just off his premeet best of 4:11.28.
In Marchand’s absence, the 200 IM was won by California’s Destin Lasco in 1:37.91. Lasco broke his own record of 1:38.10, set last year behind Marchand’s NCAA record of 1:36.34.
Texas’ Will Modglin, a freshman from Zionsville, was 29th in prelims and did not make the cut to 16. His 1:43.29 was off his Big 12-winning time of 1:41.01, which would have qualified No. 5.
Modglin swam leadoff for Texas in Wednesday’s 4x50 medley relay (ninth) and Thursday’s 4x50 freestyle relay (19th).
Foreign swimmers went 1-2 in the 50 freestyle, won by Florida’s Josh Liendo (Canada) over Tennessee’s Jordan Crooks (Cayman Islands), 18.07 to 18.09. Liendo is a four-time world medalist, and Crooks won the 50-meter freestyle at the 2022 short course worlds.
Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano, a bronze medalist for Team USA in the 4x100 freestyle relay at 2023 worlds, was fourth in 18.49.
In 1-meter diving, Indiana’s Quentin Henninger and Carson Tyler finished 2-3 behind repeat champion Lyle Yost of Ohio State. Yost scored 433.55 points, Henninger 427.20 and Tyler 412.95.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.