Léon Marchand Wins Gold in Texas-Trained Trio/ TezzBuzz/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ Léon Marchand of France captured gold in the 200-meter individual medley at the swimming world championships, joined on the podium by fellow Texas-based swimmers Shaine Casas and Hubert Kós. Marchand narrowly missed breaking his own world record set just one day earlier. Canadian Summer McIntosh earned her third gold, and David Popovici added a historic win in the 100 freestyle.
SINGAPORE — A Texas training camp produced a global podium sweep Thursday as Léon Marchand of France captured gold in the 200-meter individual medley at the World Aquatics Championshipsclosely followed by silver medalist Shaine Casas of the United States and bronze medalist Hubert of Hungary.
The trio shares a common bond beyond their elite swimming prowess — all three are training under renowned coach Bob Bowman at the University of Texas in Austinbest known for guiding Michael Phelps to Olympic immortality.
Marchand, 22, swam a blazing 1:53.68just shy of the world record of 1:52.69 he set 24 hours earlier in the semifinals. Both times obliterate the previous 1:54.00 record set by American great Ryan Lochte in 2011.
While Marchand is only entered in two individual events in Singapore — far fewer than the four he won in the 2024 Paris Olympics — he still has his eyes on the 400 IM. He already holds the world record in that event (4:02.50) from last year’s worlds, and it remains a major storyline heading into Sunday’s final.
Summer McIntosh of Canada added another gold with a commanding performance in the 200-meter butterflyclocking 2:01.99 — just 0.18 seconds off the world record set in 2009 by Liu Zige during the super-suit era.
McIntosh, who begins training under Bob Bowman at Texas this fall, now owns three gold medals at these championships.
Romanian sprint sensation David Popovici captured gold in the 100-meter freestyletouching in 46.51 — the second-fastest time in history. Only China’s Pan Zhanle has gone faster, with his 46.40 mark from 2024. Pan failed to reach the final in Singapore.
Jack Alexy of the United States took silver (46.92), while Kyle Chalmers of Australia earned bronze (47.17).
Katharine Berkoff secured gold in the 50-meter backstroke with a time of 27.08narrowly edging Regan Smith (27.25), who notched her second silver of the evening. Wan Letian of China took bronze at 27.30.
Smith, despite battling illness like much of Team USA, continued to perform at an elite level.
Gretchen Walshhowever, withdrew from the women’s 100 freestyle due to lingering effects of a stomach bug contracted during training in Thailand, according to head coach Greg Meehan.
In the women’s 4×200 freestyle relay, Australia took gold with a time of 7:39.35edging out the United States (7:40.01). China claimed bronze (7:42.99). Australia now leads the medal standings with five gold medals.
Yu ZidiChina’s 12-year-old phenom, who placed fourth in the 200 butterfly, contributed to China’s bronze by swimming in the prelims — a remarkable achievement for such a young competitor.
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