France’s Leon Marchand smashed the 200m individual medley world record in Singapore on Wednesday, setting a new mark of 1min 52.69sec.
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Swimming in the semi-finals at the world championships, the 23-year-old took more than a second off the previous record of 1:54.00 set by Ryan Lochte in 2011.
Marchand beat Michael Phelps’s long-standing 400m medley record at the world championships in Japan two years ago.
“Actually I can’t believe it right now,” said Marchand, who won four individual golds in front of his home fans at the Paris Olympics a year ago.
“I knew I was going to be close to my PB (personal best) because I felt really good today and preparation has been pretty good.
“But 1:52 is unbelievable for me.”
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.
“It was good, I swam well, I think I pretty much did what I wanted to do,” Marchand said after his morning heat.
“There are a few technical details that I’ll go over with my coach, things I can improve on for tonight.”
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