At its most competitive, swimming is a sport defined by its intergenerational nature. The same test can bring together teenagers who have not started, or have just started, secondary education, stars of 14, 15 and 16 years old –Michael Phelps, Sarah Sjostrom, Katie Ledecky or Summer McIntosh– who break world records or achieve Olympic medals against rivals that have kept the competitive fire going for more than 30 years. The World Cups that close today in Fukuoka express the breadth of that generational arc and also the overwhelming dynamics of swimming, which waits for no one.
Swimmers who seemed invincible, destined to mark an era, go out without the slightest warning and nobody knows if they will recover their lost magic. This is the case of David Popovici, the precocious Romanian phenomenon who last year broke the 100-meter freestyle world record, but who will emerge from these World Cups vulnerable and without medals, so attention suddenly shifts to other names: the French Léon Marchand (20 years old), the Australian Mollie O'Callaghan (19) and the Canadian McIntosh (17).
It has been a week of great records, both for the value of the records and for the names that disappear from the header. Marchand (400-meter styles) and O'Callaghan (200-meter freestyle) replace Michael Phelps and Federica Pellegrini, authors of great times at the dawn and the emergence of polyurethane swimsuits. In 2009, a hundred world records were broken in a bazaar where it was not known what was more important: the swimmer or the plastic he wore in the water. Several brands from that time remain, some of them impossible to attack at the moment, as is the case with the record of the Chinese Zige Liu in the 200 butterfly (2.01.81 minutes). It's been 14 years since then and it will be quite a few more until she breaks down.
The Fukuoka World Cups have the merit of anticipating an exceptional week of swimming in the next Games in Paris. A thriving new generation will be measured against the old guard that refuses to decline. Swedish Sjostrom, who will turn 30 in August, broke the 50-meter freestyle world record yesterday and shows no sign of decline. Although defeated in the 400-meter freestyle, the American Ledecky has prevailed in the 800 and 1,500 meters with the usual authority, 11 years after bursting onto the international scene with the victory over Mireia Belmonte in the London Olympic final.
These World Cups have offered a full menu of perceptions. Australia has a sensational women's team and a more than competent men's team; The United States has a huge pocket of swimmers, but they don't finish off because they are devoid of stars, except for Ledecky; in China a very powerful generation emerges in the short tests; Italy has gone down a couple of steps; Japan has disappointed again and France has found what it needed for the Paris Games: the most impressive swimmer in the world, Léon Marchand.
For the French, Marchand will be much more than the great swimmer of the moment in the coming months. He is a godsend, a champion who surpasses the narrow popularity margins of swimming, a sport that tends to highlight his packaging at the Olympics. One year from Paris 2024, Marchand is the closest version of Michael Phelps, a rarely seen versatile swimmer, endowed with an insatiable competitive appetite and fueled by a narrative that connects him to Phelps through his coach, Bob Bowman. , the man who mentored the career of the legendary American swimmer and now directs the young Frenchman at Arizona State University. Léon Marchand is identified by his world records, the convenient account of the new Phelps in sight and the Olympic Games at home. He will be the national emblem in Paris 2024.
