Leon Marchand Posts World’s Top 400 IM Time With 4:07.11 at Longhorn Invite
Less than 10 months ago, Leon Marchand raced the 400 IM in front of an adoring crowd in Paris on the way to his first Olympic gold medal. The stakes were far lower Friday evening at the Longhorn Elite Invite as he notched the fastest time in the world for 2025 by more than two seconds.
Racing against Carson Foster, previously the only swimmer to break 4:10 this year and the Olympic bronze medalist, Marchand never trailed. He was ahead by almost two seconds at the halfway point before launching into his sublime breaststroke and splitting 1:09.17. Marchand ended up recording a time of 4:07.11, crushing Foster’s previous world top time of 4:09.51. Foster took second here in 4:11.81, with Rex Maurer (4:16.61) and David Johnston (4:20.72) well off the pace.
Only nine swimmer have ever beaten the time Marchand posted here, and even while swimming more than four seconds off his time from the Olympic final, he went faster than the 4:08.62 put forth by Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita on the way to silver in that final. Moreover, Marchand should guarantee himself a spot at the World Championships with that swim, even though he intends to skip the upcoming French national championships.
One event earlier, one of Marchand’s training partners came up just short of a top-ranked time of his own. Hubert Kos, who won Olympic gold in the 200 backstroke last year, swam a time of 1:55.50 to crush the field in his signature event. The only swimmer to go faster thus far this year is Greece’s Apostolos Siskos (1:55.18) while Kos passes the likes of Oliver Morgan, Roman Mityukov and Thomas Ceccon.
Meanwhile, the top women’s performance of the session belonged to Texas-trained Erin Gemmell, who moved up to No. 6 in the world in the 200 freestyle with her winning time of 1:56.41. Gemmell was an Olympic semifinalist in the event last year before helping the U.S. women to 800 free relay silver, and here she clocked a time less than a half-second from her lifetime best (1:55.97). Simone Manuel, fresh off a world top-five time in the 100 free Thursday, came in at 1:57.34, while Regan Smith made a rare appearance in the 200 free and clocked 1:58.83.
The men’s 200 free featured a standout performance from Maurer, who took down Olympic bronze medalist Luke Hobson. Overcoming a deficit of more than six tenths at the halfway point, Maurer finished in 1:46.79 for his best time by four tenths and the fifth-fastest time by an American this year. This follows Maurer’s two-second drop in the 400 free during Thursday’s racing. Hobson took second here in 1:47.35.
Smith put up a time of 57.51 as she dominated the women’s 100 butterfly, and while she sat out the 200 back, Phoebe Bacon starred there with a wining time of 2:09.19. Bacon’s Wisconsin teammate Maggie Wanezek was second in 2:10.95. Campbell Stoll was the fastest swimmer in the women’s 400 IM (4:48.66) while the men’s 100 fly went to Ryan Branon (52.46).