Leon Marchand breaks Ryan Lochte’s world record; Regan Smith broke her own world record

France’s Leon Marchand followed up his four Olympic gold medals with his first short course world record, closely followed by American Regan Smith breaking her own world record.

Marchand won the 200m individual medley in 1:48.88 at the FINA World Cup in Singapore on Friday. He broke the previous record of 1:49.63, set by Ryan Lochte in 2012.

“It was really interesting for me because I was trying to do something that I had never done before,” Marchand said. “The crowd was going crazy, so it was a lot of pressure for me. … It reminded me of Paris, the Olympic Games.”

This is Marchand’s second world record in the meters, but his first in the short distance in the 25-meter pool. In 2023, he broke Michael Phelps’s last remaining world record in the 400 meters in a 50-meter pool (the size used in the Olympics).

Lochte now has one individual world record left in the 200 meters in a 50-meter pool. Marchand missed that world record (1:54.00) by six hundredths at the Paris Olympics.

In the race that followed Marchand’s world record, Smith broke the world record in the 100-meter backstroke for the second Friday in a row.

The eight-time Olympic medalist clocked 54.27, bettering her record of 54.41 set last Friday at the world championships in Incheon, South Korea.

“We want to be good, better, better, and this is the third stage,” said Smith, who swam 54.89 at the first of three World Cup events in Shanghai two weeks ago.

The World Cup ends on Saturday with the final broadcast live. Peacock at 6:30 a.m. ET.

Marchand and Smith are expected to compete at the World Short Course Championships in Budapest from December 10-15.

Torrey Husk, Kate Douglas and 19 other Paris Olympians are on the list of American short-distance swimmers.