Léon Marchand was set to make his first major international appearance since his 4 gold medals at the Paris 2024 Olympics at the European Aquatics Championships. But the French star’s comeback has been far from straightforward. His troubles began on June 29 at the French National Championships, where he suffered a right hip adductor injury. After 3 weeks of rehabilitation, Marchand returned to breaststroke training hoping to resume his preparations, but his recovery soon took another turn.

Marchand revealed that he reinjured the same area during a French national team training camp in Vichy. “I’ve had a bit of a rough time, to be honest,” Marchand told L’Équipe. “And I slightly re-injured myself three weeks after the French Championships, in the same spot, my pectineus.”

The injury affected his pectineus muscle, which is part of the hip adductor group, leaving his plans for the European Aquatics Championships uncertain. The setback has already forced him to rule out the men’s 200m breaststroke at the European Championships. His participation in the men’s 400m individual medley, however, remains undecided because the event is scheduled on the opening day of the competition.

“I’m supposed to start training again on Monday, and I’m really apprehensive,” Marchand said. “The 400m individual medley is uncertain because it’s the first day. I’m a bit afraid of re-injuring my adductor and having my week ruined.” Marchand added that he will wait until the day before the race before making a final decision based on MRI results, medical assessments, and how his body responds during training.

Earlier this year, Marchand had identified the European Aquatics Championships as one of his main targets for the season and hoped to challenge his own world record of 4:02.50 in the 400m individual medley. That ambition is now on hold as he focuses on recovering in time to compete. Despite the latest setback, Marchand remains optimistic. 

” 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 warm-up more suited to what I do in the water,” he said. “Knowing I’ll finally be able to swim freestyle the way I want… I’m eager to see how it goes.”

While the 400m individual medley remains a race against time, Marchand is still expected to compete in freestyle and butterfly events if he receives medical clearance, offering home fans hope of seeing France’s biggest swimming star back in action.

While his immediate goals have been disrupted by injury, Marchand’s long-term ambitions remain unchanged.

Léon Marchand sets his sights on a new Olympic challenge

After winning four individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics, Léon Marchand decided he did not want to follow the same path through the next Olympic cycle. Instead, he has turned his attention to the 400m freestyle as he looks to broaden his event program ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.

Speaking to Le Monde, Marchand said his motivation was simple: “I really don’t want to do things over. It’s done, I leave it, I’ve turned the page. It wouldn’t bring me any pleasure to repeat exactly the same program – it’s just not how I move forward in my career or in my daily life.”

He revealed that he began what he called a “freestyle challenge” in January and is eager to discover how far he can push himself outside the events that made him a four-time Olympic champion. As he says, “What I know is that I’ve trained well over the last few months, and I want to see how far I can go.”  He believes the 400m freestyle will help build his endurance and complement his individual medley, butterfly, and breaststroke events.

With the Los Angeles Olympics less than two years away, his focus remains on developing into a more complete swimmer while continuing to build on the success that has already made him one of the sport’s biggest stars.