France’s Leon Marchand won the men’s 200m individual medley on Thursday for his third gold medal of swimming’s world championships.
Marchand won in a time of 1min, 54.82sec, ahead of British pair Duncan Scott on 1:55.95 and Tom Dean on 1:56.07.
“I feel amazing,” Marchand said.
“It’s been very big for me. I’m very happy with the time and with the win today.”
The result gave Marchand an individual medley gold double, having won the 400m event in stunning fashion on the opening night.
He came home in 4min, 02.50sec to break American great Michael Phelps’s 400 IM world record, which had stood since the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Marchand followed that up by winning the 200m butterfly on Wednesday night.
“I’m very proud of it,” he said.
“I worked very hard for it, so I’m just enjoying it right now.”
He decided to drop the 200m breaststroke from his programme in Fukuoka.
Marchand, who is set to be one of the faces of next year’s Paris Olympics, also won both the 200m and 400m IM at last year’s world championships in Budapest.
