Leon Marchand Still Working Through Injury on Way to European Champs; 400 IM Uncertain While 200 Breaststroke Out
One week out from the start of swimming competition at the European Aquatics Championships in Paris, four-time Olympic champion Leon Marchand continues to battle a left adductor injury that forced his withdrawal from the French Championships in late June. In an interview with L’Equipe, Marchand confirmed that he reaggravated the injury during training and he is uncertain how it will affect him for competition at Euros.
“Regarding my injury, I’ve had a bit of a rough time, to be honest,” Marchand told L’Equipe. “I made good progress in the first few weeks, and after three weeks, I started swimming breaststroke again. We consulted with the doctor. We were pushing the limits a bit because we didn’t want to waste too much time, but we also wanted to do things properly. And I slightly re-injured myself three weeks after the French Championships, in the same spot, my pectineus. So it wasn’t strong enough yet to do a breaststroke set. I started again, not completely from scratch, but almost. I continued my rehab, but I still haven’t started swimming breaststroke again.”
The injury to the adductor has ruled out Marchand competing in the 200 breaststroke, an event in which he is the reigning Olympic champion and second-fastest performer in history. More, the injury has cast doubt on whether Marchand will contest the 400 individual medley, which is scheduled for the opening day of the European Champs. According to the French superstar, a decision will be made closer to Day One in Paris. Marchand noted that he is apprehensive about the injury and suffering another setback.
While the 400 IM remains uncertain as a part of Marchand’s program, he is expected to contest the 200 butterfly and 400 freestyle. Marchand is the Olympic champ in the 200 fly and the 400 freestyle is an event in which the Frenchman has not had the chance to race in major international competition, but offers significant promise.
“I’m handling (the injury) as best I can,” Marchand told L’Equipe. “It’s the first time. I’ve still learned some things from this injury, because I’ve been able to focus on freestyle, butterfly and also on aspects I was neglecting a bit, like rehabilitation, injury prevention, and a warmup more suited to what I do in the water. When I re-injured myself, I couldn’t do the dolphin kick anymore. That was the difficult part because I rely on it a lot. But I’ve been able to try to generate speed in freestyle and butterfly without necessarily using long underwater phases.”
European Championships – Meet Coverage
