How Short Course Swimming Helped Leon Marchand Break A World Record
2023 WORLD AQUATICS CHAMPIONSHIPS
Short-course swimming might get some flack because competitors spend a good portion of their race underwater, but it turns out that there are still walls and turns in long course, even if fewer than in long course. That means that the techniques from the small pool can also be utilized to help a swimmer in long course.
According to an analysis by human performance researcher Ricardo Peterson Silveira (@rpsportscience on Twitter), short course swimming may have played a big part in French swimmer Leon Marchand taking down Michael Phelps‘ long-standing World Record in the 400 IM at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka on Sunday.
According to Silveira’s study, the difference in Marchand’s improvement came from his improvements underwater. The combined time it took for Marchand to swim 15 meters off of each wall in his 2023 Worlds race was 2.04 seconds faster than it was at the 2022 Worlds in Budapest, where he set his previous best time. In total, Marchand swam a time of 4:02.50 on Sunday, which is 1.78 seconds faster than his 2022 Worlds time of 4:04.22.
Meanwhile, Silveira found that Marchand’s performance on the surface in Fukuoka wasn’t much different than it was in Budapest, as he had similar swimming speed, stroke count, and stroke frequency in both meets.
🌎 A world record broken in the details 📈 🇫🇷 @leon_marchand significantly improved what was already one of his best qualities: the underwaters! 🎯 He managed to shave 2.04 s of the time to reach 15 m after each wall (start and turns), lowering his time by 1.78 s. pic.twitter.com/k47FpZcqqG — Ricardo Peterson Silveira (@rpsportscience) July 23, 2023
Overall, no major changes in his swimming speed on the surface, with room for improvements in terms of stroke length 🏊♂️🔥 Congratulations to Leon and all his team at @FFNatation @dauphinsdutoec @ASUSwimDive on this incredible achievement!@coach_bowman @sokin_le_coach pic.twitter.com/JiBnXZsmbR — Ricardo Peterson Silveira (@rpsportscience) July 23, 2023
The majority of a swimmer’s first 15 meters off each wall is spent underwater, which is why underwaters are such a crucial aspect in short course swimming but are less emphasized in long course. Underwaters are one of Marchand’s biggest strength—Phelps even said on the 400 IM NBC broadcast that Marchand pushes his underwaters to 15 meters at every single wall.
Marchand, who is a rising junior at Arizona State, is arguably the best short course yards swimmer in the NCAA. Prior to breaking the 400 IM world record, he shaved over three seconds off the NCAA record in the event this March, which culminated in a 3:28.82 clocked at the 2023 Championships.
To see how Marchand’s underwaters have gotten faster over the last year, take a look at his 400 IM from 2022 and 2023 in the videos down below (courtesy of NBC sports):
Source: SwimSwam
