Phelps‘s not world record remains

Leon Marchand broke Michael Phelps’s 400 IM world record on the opening night of the 2023 World Championships. This was Phelps’s last world record.

But Marchand didn’t just get under Phelps’ old record time of 4:03.84 from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, he was under it by over a second, going 4:02.50.

Headed into the meet, Marchand’s best time was 4:04.28, which was from the 2022 World Championships. That time was originally the second fastest time in history behind Phelps’ former world record.

In his race, Marchand was 0.26 seconds faster than Phelps’ record on fly, and nearly three seconds faster on breast. However, he was slower than Phelps on back and free. Compared to his previous best time, he was almost a second faster on the fly and over a second faster on backstroke.

American Carson Foster won silver with 4:06.56. japanese star daiya seto clinched the bronze medal with 4:09.41.

Phelps became the longest-standing world record holder this June in an event with his 400 IM. In total, he held the world record for 20 years and 342 days. His world record time of 4:03.84 had also been the oldest long course world record in swimming. Now, that title belongs to Paul Biedermann’s 400 free world record.