Swimming

Even legends' records are meant to be broken.

And Sunday, the last of Michael Phelps' individual swimming records finally fell as Leon Marchand, a 21-year-old Frenchman set the world record in the men's 400-meter individual medley.

Marchand cruised to the win in 4 minutes, 2.50 seconds at the world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, beating out Phelps' time of 4:03.84, which he set at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.

THIS IS UNBELIEVABLE 🫣
🇫🇷Leon Marchand beat the longest World Record in the books after 21 years!!!@FFNatation #AQUAFukuoka23 pic.twitter.com/Jkzwmp0xFb

— World Aquatics (@WorldAquatics) July 23, 2023

He broke the record with Phelps in attendance and received his gold medal from the greatest swimmer of all-time.

"That was insane, one of the most painful things I've done," Marchand said following the race. "It was amazing to do it here, and the time is crazy."

"The best is yet to come," he added later.

Marchand has followed in Phelps' footsteps, training under US national team coach Bob Bowman at Arizona State University. He is setting himself up for a path of superstardom entering the 2024 Olympics in Paris where he'll be the hometown favorite.

And following his performance this weekend, all eyes will be trained on him as Phelps' potential successor.

"I think I can handle the pressure pretty well right now," Marchand said. "It's not perfect and I can get better and I have one year to improve."

Marchand has some massive shoes to fill as Phelps is the most decorated Olympian of all-time with a total of 28 medals.

Phelps previously held five individual world records in the 200m butterfly, 200m freestyle, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley and 100m freestyle. After Sunday he is still a part of world records set by the United States in the 4x100 and 4x200 freestyle relays.

For the first time in nine years, superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky lost a race in her home country of the United States on Friday.

According to Reuters (h/t ESPN), 16-year-old Canadian Summer McIntosh won the 200-meter freestyle at a Pro Series swim meet in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, with a time of one minute, 54.13 seconds, finishing 0.83 seconds ahead of Ledecky.

The loss was Ledecky's first in a domestic freestyle long course final of 200 meters or longer since she fell to fellow American Allison Schmitt back in 2014 when Ledecky was 16 years of age.

Now 25, Ledecky has long established herself as not only one of the best swimmers in the world currently, but of all time as well.

Since first qualifying for the Olympics in 2012 at the age of 15, Ledecky has won 10 Olympic medals, including seven golds, as well as 22 world championship medals, including 19 golds.

Ledecky is typically at her best in long-distance races, having won three Olympic golds in the 800-meter freestyle and one in the 1,500-meter freestyle, although she has won an Olympic gold at the 200- and 400-meter distances as well.

While Ledecky remains dominant, she perhaps showed her first sign of slippage at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, which were held in 2021. Ledecky won individual gold in the 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle, but she settled for silver in the 400-meter freestyle, falling to Australia's Ariarne Titmus.

That loss marked the first time in her career that Ledecky failed to win gold in an individual event at the Olympics.

Still, a loss in a 200-meter freestyle race Friday isn't much cause for concern, since it is far from Ledecky's best event. In addition to having just one Olympic gold in the 200 in her Olympic career, she has only won a single world championship gold in the race as well.

Meanwhile, McIntosh is an up-and-coming star in much the same way Ledecky was when she burst on to the scene in 2012.

McIntosh failed to win a medal at the 2020 Summer Games, but she performed well and finished just off the podium in the 400-meter freestyle, coming in fourth.

She went on to win gold in the 200-meter butterfly and 400-meter medley at the 2022 world championships, plus silver in the 400-meter freestyle, behind only Ledecky.

With Ledecky still near the top of her game and McIntosh trending toward an elite level, it is likely they will have many more tight battles at various distances in the years to come.

They both figure to take center stage next year when they compete at the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris.

The U.S. Virgin Islands Police Department released a statement saying it is investigating the sudden death of former swimming champion Jamie Cail.

Her boyfriend said he found her unresponsive on the floor of their residence on Tuesday and told authorities he and a friend took her to the Myrah Keating-Smith Clinic, where she was eventually pronounced dead after efforts to save her life failed.

Cail was 42 years old.

Bill Hutchinson of ABC News noted she was part of the gold-medal-winning relay team at the 1997 Pan Pacific Championships before attending the University of Maine. She was part of Maine's swim team during the 2000-01 academic year.

Natalie Neysa Alund of USA Today noted Cail was also a silver medalist at the 1998/99 FINA Swimming World Cup in Brazil when she represented USA Swimming on the National B Team.

Superstar swimmer Katie Ledecky was named the Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year for the second time in her career Wednesday.

Ledecky won the award ahead of track star Sydney McLaughlin, who tied on total points with 22, but only had nine first-place votes to Ledecky's 10. WNBA MVP A'ja Wilson finished third in the voting with 18 points.

Per Paul Newberry of the AP, Ledecky expressed gratitude for the recognition, saying: "I know so many great athletes have won this honor. "I'm really happy—happy with how my year went, and also excited about the future."

Bolstered by a dominant performance at the 2022 FINA World Championships in Budapest, where she won four gold medals, Ledecky added the 2022 Associated Press Female Athlete of the Year Award to the previous such award she won in 2017.

As has become commonplace for Ledecky over the past decade, she went home with a huge haul of gold medals from the 2022 worlds, taking the top spot in the 400-, 800- and 1,500-meter freestyle, as well as the 4x200-meter freestyle.

Those golds gave the American 19 career gold medals at the world championships in addition to three silvers.

The 25-year-old Ledecky is also a seven-time gold medalist and three-time silver medalist at the Summer Olympics, including two golds and two silvers at the 2020 Summer Games held in 2021.

Rounding out the top five in the voting behind Ledecky, McLaughlin and Wilson were South Carolina college basketball star Aliyah Boston and Polish tennis star Iga Świątek with 14 points each.

The Associated Press Athlete of the Year Award has been presented annually to one man and one woman since 1931.

Among those who have won the AP Female Athlete of the Year Award, Ledecky is now only the 19th different woman to win it multiple times.

Katie Ledecky set yet another world record on Saturday after posting a time of 15:08.24 in the 1,500-meter freestyle at the FINA Swimming World Cup in Toronto.

WORLD RECORD

15:08.24

Katie Ledecky

Smashing the 1500m previous time by nearly 10 seconds. Staggering. This place is going crazy. What a scene. pic.twitter.com/8gIXMm5Ser

— Devin Heroux (@Devin_Heroux) October 29, 2022

Ledecky beat the previous record, held by Sarah Wellbrock, by 9.77 seconds.

"I knew that record was within reach just based on some things I've done in training, especially my distance stuff [as it] has felt really good this fall," Ledecky said, per the Associated Press. "So I felt locked into the pace."

As noted by Braden Keith of SwimSwam, this marked her first-ever short-course 1,500-meter freestyle race. Ledecky nearly even took down another short-course record along the way:

Katie Ledecky just obliterated the 1500 SCM free world record by nearly 10 seconds with a time of 15:08.24.

With a split of 8:00.58 at the halfway point, she almost broke the 800 free world record in the process 🤯 pic.twitter.com/WmqabqgHD6

— SwimSwam (@swimswamnews) October 29, 2022

She is already the long-course record holder for the 1,500-meter freestyle (15:20.48) and the 800-meter freestyle (8:04.79).

Ledecky dominated early on, per Keith, who noted that she was under the world-record pace by five seconds at the 600-meter mark.

The 25-year-old's impeccable resume also includes seven Olympic gold medals and three silver medals. She has notably won the 800-meter freestyle each of the past three Olympics.

Ledecky also owns 19 World Championship golds (long course) medals and three silvers.

The Soul Cap, which is designed specifically for natural Black hair, was officially approved by the International Swimming Federation, FINA, on Friday.

FINA executive director Brent Nowicki said approval of the swimming cap followed "a period of review and discussion on cap design between FINA and Soul Cap over the past year," he told the U.K.'s Metro.

Soul Cap said in a release on its website:

"For a long time, conventional swim caps have been an obstacle for swimmers with thick, curly, or volume-blessed hair. They can’t always find a cap that fits their hair type, and that often means that swimmers from some backgrounds end up avoiding competitions, or giving up the sport entirely.

"We want to see swimming become an accessible sport, with equipment and swimwear that lets anyone get involved and see success.

"And this new approval by FINA is a huge step in the right direction–bringing inclusive swimwear into competitive swimming, and helping to bring down some of the obstacles that are keeping swimmers away from the sport."

At last year's Olympics, using the Soul Cap was not allowed by FINA. The worldwide governing body for competitive swimming said that there was no reason for the cap's use because swimmers "never used, neither require to use, caps of such size and configuration," per the Associated Press.

FINA also said that the Soul Cap didn't "[follow] the natural form of the head," a rule that is outlined in the organization's swimwear requirements.

In an interview with Sky Sports last year, Danielle Obe, chair of the Black Swimming Association, said that hair "is a significant barrier to aquatics for—women especially—many people of colour from our communities" and that the Soul Cap should be approved to help "overcome" that barrier.

The Soul Cap's approval is a major step in the right direction, and one that will encourage people from all backgrounds to consider taking up competitive swimming. We should now be seeing its use at the next Olympics and other competitive events.

There's about to be a lot of excitement for swimming fans this weekend in the Land Down Under.

After a seven-year hiatus, Duel In The Pool, the head-to-head challenge that pits the United States against Australia, is back on Friday in Sydney.

Duel in the Pool goes back to 2003, at the height of the Michael Phelps era, and took place once every two years until 2015.

Now that the American and Aussie teams are back at the top of the sport, the three-day event has been resurrected by Swimming Australia and USA Swimming.

From Friday to Sunday, Bondi Beach and the pools at the Sydney Aquatic Centre will include a litany of unorthodox competitions featuring some of the world's best swimmers, including Aussies Emma McKeon, Kaylee McKeown and Mollie O’Callaghan and USA competitors Katie Ledecky and Regan Smith on the women's side, as well as Caeleb Dressel (USA) and Kyle Chalmers (Australia).

Here's a quick look at how to watch and what fans can expect to see.

It's almost time 🤩

Scroll through for #DuelInThePool scoring details, and click below for U.S. streaming info, event schedule and more ⤵️

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) August 17, 2022

Duel in the Pool 2022

Date: Friday, August 19

Start Time: 9 a.m. ET

TV: NBC

Live Stream: NBCSports and USAswimming.org

---

Full Event Schedule

Day 1 - Friday

Mixed 4 x 800m Open Water Relay

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Day 2 - Saturday

4x100m Mixed Medley Relay (2M, 2F) Traditional

Women’s 400m Broken Freestyle

Men’s 100m Butterfly, Traditional

Mixed 4x50m MC Freestyle Relay (2M, 2F)

Women’s 3x50m Butterfly, Skins

Men’s 100m Breaststroke, Traditional

Women’s 50m Freestyle, Traditional

Women’s 3x50m Breaststroke, Skins

Men’s 800m Broken Freestyle

Men’s 100m Freestyle, Traditional

MC 100m Freestyle, Staggered Starts

Women’s 4x100m Medley Relay, Traditional

Men’s 3x50m Backstroke, Skins

Mixed MC/AB 4x50m Relay (2 S9, 2 AB)

Men’s 200m Individual Medley, Mystery

Women’s 100m Backstroke, Traditional

Men’s 3x50m Freestyle, Skins

MC 3x50m Form-Stroke, Skins

Women’s 200m Freestyle, Traditional

Mixed 4x50m Random Relay (2M 2F)

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Day 3 - Sunday

Mixed 6x50m Freestyle Relay (1M, 2F) Swimming 2×50 each

Women’s 800m Broken Freestyle

Men’s 200m Freestyle, Traditional

Mixed 4x100m MC Freestyle Relay (2M, 2F)

Women’s 3x50m Freestyle, Skins

Men’s 3x50m Breaststroke, Skins

Women’s 100m Butterfly, Traditional

Women’s 3x50m Backstroke, Skins

Men’s 4x100m Freestyle Relay, Traditional

Men’s 100m Backstroke, Traditional

MC 3x50m Freestyle, Skins

Women’s 100m Freestyle, Traditional

Men’s 400m Broken Freestyle

Men’s 50m Freestyle, Traditional

Women’s 100m Breaststroke, Traditional

Men’s 3x50m Butterfly, Skins

MC 100m Form-Stroke

Women’s 200m Individual Medley, Mystery

2x200m vs 4x100m Freestyle Random Relay (2M 2F)

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Top Stars, Storylines, Predictions

The world of swimming is still abuzz with Romanian David Popovici's world-record performance in the 100-meter free with a time of 46.86 seconds and the 200-meter free with a time of one minute, 42.97 seconds.

Now that fans are vigorously paying attention to the sport, Duel in the Pool is next up, and there should be a lot to be excited about.

Popovici won't be on the marquee, but other stars, like McKeon, McKeown, O’Callaghan, Ledecky, Smith, Dressel and Chalmers, will be on hand to represent their country.

On the women's side, it looks as if Australia has the advantage, with Olympic gold medalists McKeon and McKeown in the pool.

It's a bit more evenly matched on the men's side, with the strength being the sprint team led by Michael Andrew.

Overall, there's a slight edge for the Aussies to win it because of the women and the fact that they're swimming in home waters.

The key is going to be how the respective coaches manage their stars in the race to keep them from burning out and getting through the various races, especially the “Mystery” IM, in which the order of the strokes is determined at random prior to the start of the race.

No matter who ends the weekend with bragging rights, this should be a must-see event for swimming fans worldwide.

Romanian swimmer David Popovici, who is just 17 years old, broke the men's 100-meter freestyle world record Saturday at the 2022 European championships in Italy.

He is the youngest swimmer in history to break the record in the men's 100-meter freestyle.

"There was no rush, and I had to be extremely patient about the world record," Popovici said, per the Associated Press (h/t ESPN). "It has hurt, but it's always worth it and I feel fine right now. It felt great, and it's very special to break this record."

Popovici finished the race in 46.86 seconds to break the record of 46.91 seconds held by Brazil's César Cielo, who accomplished the feat at the 2009 World Championships, also held in Italy.

The Romanian beat second-place Hungarian Kristóf Milák by 0.61 seconds. Alessandro Miressi of Italy finished third with a time of 47.63 seconds.

Popovici won gold in the men's 100-meter and 200-meter freestyle races earlier this year at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest. However, he was unable to compete against American Caeleb Dressel, who dropped out of the event for health reasons.

Dressel won five gold medals at last summer's Tokyo Olympics, including one in the 100-meter freestyle. The two are now on pace for an exciting clash at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Team USA's Lilly King failed to medal in the 50-meter women's breaststroke event at the 2022 FINA World Aquatics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, on Saturday.

Lithuania's Ruta Meilutyte took gold with a time of 29.70 seconds, while King finished in 30.40 seconds, settling for seventh place.

Here is a full rundown of the finishing order from Saturday's final with Meilutyte, Italy's Benedetta Pilato and South Africa's Lara van Niekerk occupying the top three spots on the podium:

1. Ruta Meilutyte: 29.70

2. Benedetta Pilato: 29.80

3. Lara van Niekerk: 29.90

4. Qianting Tang: 30.21

5. Anna Elendt: 30.22

6. Eneli Jefimova: 30.25

7. Lilly King: 30.40

8. Jhennifer Conceicao: 30.45

The 50-meter breaststroke marked the second time in four races at the 2022 world championships that King finished off the podium, as she previously finished fourth in the 100-meter breaststroke.

King isn't leaving Budapest empty-handed, however, as she won gold in both the 200-meter breaststroke and 4x100-meter women's medley relay events.

The 25-year-old King has won three individual Olympic medals in breaststroke and five individual world championship medals.

That included gold in the 50-meter at both the 2017 and 2019 world championships, setting a world championship record in the event at the 2017 worlds with a time of 29.40 seconds.

King has become better at longer distances in recent years, winning silver in the 200-meter at the 2020 Olympics and bronze in the 100-meter but not medaling in the 50-meter.

That was true again in these world championships, as she won gold in the 200, but did not win a medal in either the 50 or the 100.

While Saturday's race was a disappointment for King, it represented a special moment for the 25-year-old Meilutyte, who has missed significant time since the 2013 world championship due to injuries and a two-year doping suspension.

The Lithuanian star won gold in the 100-meter breaststroke at the 2012 London Olympics at just 15 years of age and followed it up with gold in the 100-meter and silver in the 50-meter at the 2013 worlds.

Meilutyte took bronze in the 100-meter earlier at the 2022 world championships, meaning she will depart Budapest with two medals in tow.

Meanwhile, the 17-year-old Pilato won her second medal at the 2022 world championships after taking gold in the 100-meter breaststroke, and the 19-year-old Van Niekerk won the first world championship medal of her career.

If it was possible to lap the field at a swimming event, Katie Ledecky nearly accomplished that feat during the women's 800-meter freestyle at the 2022 World Championships on Friday.

The American superstar won gold with a time of 8 minutes, 8.04 seconds, almost 11 seconds faster than silver medalist Kiah Melverton of Australia (8:18.77).

𝐔𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐩𝐩𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞. 😤@katieledecky wins her 𝐟𝐢𝐟𝐭𝐡 800m free title in 8:08.04!#FINABudapest2022 pic.twitter.com/ScjR6SapfN

— USA Swimming (@USASwimming) June 24, 2022

We need some good news. Here’s some good news: Katie Ledecky doing Katie Ledecky things at the world championships. Her signature event, the 800 free. Wins by a mile. Her fifth-fastest time ever and fastest in four years. Dominating at 25 with the Paris Olympics two years away. pic.twitter.com/jQhEsu6X74

— Christine Brennan (@cbrennansports) June 24, 2022

The win gave Ledecky her fourth gold medal at the 2022 championship and 22 career medals at the World Championships.

Katie Ledecky just won the 800 freestyle at World Championships by nearly 11 seconds, her fastest time in the event since 2018. Her fourth gold medal at this meet. Don’t let her excellence get old, because we won’t ever see it replicated.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) June 24, 2022

With win in women’s 800 FS, Katie Ledecky achieves following @ WC:

19 gold medals – surpasses Ryan Lochte’s 18, trails only Michael Phelps’ 26

22 medals – 3rd all-time aftr Phelps 33, Lochte 27

14th individual gold medal – trails only Phelps 15

All above r female records 1/n

— Bill Mallon (@bambam1729) June 24, 2022

On Thursday, Ledecky broke the women's record for most career medals won at the World Championships. She captured her 21st medal in the 4x200 free relay when the United States squad finished first.

Friday was the cherry on top of what has been an incredible week for the 25-year-old. She entered the 800 free as a heavy favorite after winning gold in this event at each of the previous four World Championships dating back to 2013.

In the qualifying heats for the 800 on Thursday, Ledecky finished seven seconds faster than the No. 2 swimmer (Lani Pallister). Her qualifying time of 8:17.51 would have been good enough to win gold in the final.

Ledecky's 19 gold medals are the second-most by a female swimmer in World Championships history. Synchronized swimmer Svetlana Romashina won 21 golds from 2005-19.

The Stanford alum has wrapped up her event schedule for this week in Budapest, Hungary. She was originally expected to compete in the 200 free after winning at the U.S. swimming trials in April, but she was dropped from the event when the roster was released in May.

After the Tokyo Olympics last summer, Ledecky announced her intention to compete at the 2024 Paris Games. She already has 10 medals in her Olympic career, including seven golds.

The Maryland native needs one more gold to tie Jenny Thompson's all-time Olympic record for female swimmers. She is only two medals away from tying Thompson and Dara Torres for most all-time by a female Olympic swimmer (12).