Leon Marchand's 2025 Swimming Schedule: Only Two World Cup Stops? (2025)

Earlier this week, World Record holder Leon Marchand spoke with French media about his competition plan for the season. We will only see him race twice through the remaining four months of the year, a plan which is reminiscent of Michael Phelps.

Marchand confirmed that he will be racing at the first stop of the Swimming World Cup in Carmel, Indiana from October 10-12. He will reportedly not be racing at the remaining two World Cup stops in Westmont, Illinois, and Toronto, Canada.

This means that he will not defend his title as the top male swimmer from last year’s World Cup, a feat that won him $174,000 in prize money, the most of any man in competition. He will still be eligible for prize money at the one stop he competes in and for World Record bonuses.

He will then take the month of November off of competition, while traveling to Colorado Springs for a training camp. In December, he will compete in the US Open, which will run from December 3-6 in his home training base of Austin.

After swimming with different training groups last season, Marchand is back in Austin with Bob Bowman and the pro group at the University of Texas, and Bowman’s influence is evident in his competition plan.

Marchand has raced four times this year, including the World Championships in July. When we add the two meets he has confirmed his presence at to these totals, he will race just six meets in 2025, a massive shift from the NCAA schedule he has swum the last few years that saw him race 13 times in 2025 and 15 times in 2023

If we look at the meet plans of former Bowman swimmers, namely Michael Phelps, we see a similar trend. In 2005, the closest equivalent year to Marchand right now, Phelps swam seven meets.

Other Bowman trained pro swimmers race more frequently. Shaine Casas has already raced seven meets this year, and Carson Foster has swum six. On the women’s side, Regan Smith and Simone Manuel have both raced six times this year and Smith has confirmed her attendance at all three World Cup stops.