“Swimming already takes a lot of time so when I get home, I don’t want to think regarding it. I want to clear my head a bit,” the 20-year-old told AFP. , a student swimmer at Arizona State University.
“When I have a lesson following training, it really allows me to think regarding something else, and when I come back to training followingwards, I’m more relaxed, more serene”.
This approach seems to be bearing fruit since the Toulousain, who revealed himself last year with two world titles, recently broke a new record in the American university championship, that of the 400 yard medley (3 min 31 sec 84) . It was on January 21 during a team competition between his university and that of California.
“I didn’t expect to do this weather at this time of year but I was super happy to do it at home, in front of my mates. It was cool,” he said.
A year and a half following arriving in Phoenix to train under Bob Bowman, the man who led Michael Phelps to 23 Olympic titles, Léon Marchand is now familiar with Arizona.
In the water at 6 o’clock
Shared with four other swimmers in a house located regarding ten minutes’ drive from campus, the Toulousain has a well-regulated program which begins with getting up at 5 a.m. for a first training session at 6 a.m. “At 6 o’clock, you have to be in the water otherwise you really get yelled at, it’s strict here in terms of schedules,” he smiles.
Morning workout, breakfast, siesta. Then classes -between two and three hours a day-, meals, followingnoon training, stretching, bodybuilding… “Afterwards, I come home and do my homework. The day starts early but at least we finish quite early and you have time to do your homework, go to bed early and enjoy the evening”.
“It’s not easy because I’m in a programming degree. It’s already one of the most difficult to manage when you only do that, so it’s true that when you swim at the same time, it’s quite difficult. But the system still allows you to achieve a balance between the two”, explains the Toulousain, who is currently completing the second year of his American course, with the desire to specialize in software development. “So far I’m doing really well… Everything’s going well, but you have to work!”
The Grand Canyon, “the dream”
A year and a half before the Olympic Games in Paris, where he should be one of the big stars in the La Défense Arena basin, he is however considering reducing his course program for 2024. “That way I will have more time to recover following training,” he explains. “It will be more + focus + on swimming even if I will still have lessons on the side to have my balance.”
Does his busy schedule between swimming pool and classrooms still leave him some time for hobbies?
“I’m trying to finish my pilot’s license,” he says. “I started in France but I didn’t have time to do it. I told myself that I was going to finish it in the US, but it’s quite complicated. There are a lot of administrative papers because when you’re a foreigner you can’t fly a plane like that”.
“I managed to do regarding fifteen hours in the US anyway last year, and this year I have to get back to it. I would like to have my private pilot’s license. In addition to Arizona, c “is great because you can go see the Grand Canyon, it’s an hour by plane. So it’s really the dream! I have to stick to it, but I don’t have too much time right now moment!”