Léon Marchand and Summer McIntosh will turn U.S. swimming training against Team USA at the Summer Olympics.
The best male swimmer in the world and the best female swimmer in the world have several things in common. Both are the children of Olympians. Both have mastered what is considered the hardest event in the sport—the 400-meter individual medley—to the point of establishing seemingly untouchable world records. Both will head to the Summer Olympics as burgeoning heroes in their respective home countries.
The two also spent considerable time with their respective teams doing altitude training at the U.S. Olympic Training Center in Colorado Springs, Colo. They were putting in work to beat Americans at facilities that were created to help Americans win. But the international invasion at the very top end has never been this pronounced in the pool. This appears to be the first Olympics in which male and female swimmers with legitimate claims to being the best in the world simultaneously were trained in the U.S. but compete for foreign nations.
Is all of this a problem? Depends on who you ask. The average American Olympic patriot might not like it, but most of the swimming community understands. Bowman knew the last name sounded familiar—Léon’s father, Xavier, had swam for France in the 1996 Olympics. His mom, Céline Bonnet, competed for France in the '92 Summer Games. On genes alone, Bowman was interested. And when he investigated Léon’s times, he went from interested to intrigued. The Sun Devils were by no means a powerhouse at that point, and Marchand was a welcome addition.
Marchand’s appetite for work matched Bowman’s ability to lay it on. Their partnership has been a spectacular validation of Marchand’s drive and talent, and a reaffirmation of Bowman’s acumen. The Frenchman sent the email to the right guy. Bowman declared last year that he had a free pass of sorts, since Phelps had just broken the mark for the longest period of time for a swimmer to hold an individual world record. “It’s not a problem now that Michael has the longest record ever,” Bowman said last summer. “We thought that might break it , and that would be a thing. Michael knows he’s good enough to do it. It won’t be a shock.”
In addition to the two IMs and the 200 fly, Marchand is also entered in the 200 breaststroke. The hardest part about that? Both the 200 fly and 200 breast are on the same days, with prelims and semifinals July 30 and the finals July 31. If Marchand follows through with it, that would require four swims on the 30th and two on the 31st .
“With him, it’s not a matter of if it’s possible, it’s a matter of when and by how much,” House says. “There is not a doubt in my mind. With full confidence, I’d put my mortgage on him going under four minutes.” The first stay in Sarasota only lasted a few weeks, but McIntosh returned that summer. She was coming off a breakout performance at the world championships in Budapest, winning gold medals in the 200 butterfly and 400 IM, and kept on improving in Florida.McIntosh’s mom, Jill, swam in the 1984 Olympics for Canada and then collegiately at Florida. She knew the terrain of the sport in general and in Florida specifically, and the work Arckey had done to that point with Emma Weyant stood out.
“When she’s in the pool, she loves to work hard. She has a smile on her face while doing the work, and it didn’t matter how hard the work was. That was probably the most astounding thing to me.” So that event doesn’t figure to be close. Expect McIntosh to build a considerable lead in the butterfly leg and put the race out of reach after the backstroke. Arckey’s other prize IM pupil, Weyant, will be battling fellow American Katie Grimes and others for silver and bronze.
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