The best swimmer on the planet, Léon Marchand has a secret to improving his performance.
Léon Marchand became a swimming legend in July 2024, during the Paris Olympic Games, after his four gold medals. Since then, the Frenchman can no longer appear in public or in stadiums without provoking cheers from the public, who admire the swimmer like no other before him.
A few weeks ago, the Frenchman dived back into the pools during the Swimming World Cup in Asia and the result was once again impressive since he won this World Cup in style. But how can Léon Marchand be so far above the others?
A metabolite may be the key to all this performance. It is a very specific intermediate organic compound or one resulting from metabolism: lactate. To simplify (but just a little), lactate is a substance produced by muscles when they use glucose via a reaction called “glycolysis”.
The production of lactate, better known as “lactic acid”, increases tenfold when we exert intense effort. When they lack oxygen to create energy, muscles convert carbohydrates into lactate more quickly. But be careful: produced in too large quantities, lactate can cause serious consequences, such as the famous “lactic shock”.
Léon Marchand and his staff understood the importance of this substance and developed tests used during the competitions themselves. These tests are even carried out at the edge of the pools, away from the cameras: after each event, the French swimmer simply takes a drop of blood via a prick on the finger or ear. The blood lactate concentration is then analyzed using a portable lactate analyzer. For the test to be as relevant as possible, the Olympic champion must in theory carry out this operation exactly three minutes after the race.
“Our goal is to determine the swimmer’s level of fatigue after the race and to manage their recovery as best as possible. For each swimmer, their lactate level allows us to determine if they have recovered or if they still need a can continue recovery”explains Denis Augain, head of the French team, for 20 minutes. Knowing in near real time if his body is tired allows Léon Marchand to gauge his work intensity, to know his limits, and above all, to optimize his recovery.
It is perhaps one of these tests which led the quadruple Olympic champion to withdraw from the next short course swimming worlds, near Budapest. “Tired”, the Frenchman preferred to put an end to his crazy season, to better start again in a few months and set new objectives.