NCAA Swimming: Gretchen Walsh and Leon Marchand Creating Ripples to Make the Sport Mainstream

When legendary coach Bob Bowman spoke about getting more people interested in the NCAA, he was pointing to performances by Gretchen Walsh and Leon Marchand. Surely, Walsh and Marchand are two of the hottest properties in the NCAA at the moment. Having demolished Michael Phelps’ 400m Individual Medley world record by clocking 4:02.50, Marchand has already caught the attention of the fans. 

On the flip side, Gretchen Walsh, too, has been dominant in every discipline she has participated in. Boasting bettering the clocks at 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, and 100 backstroke, Walsh is riding high on confidence at the moment. However, with these records also comes an upsurge of popularity, that is indirectly helping in the betterment of the NCAA scenario. 

Leon Marchand and Gretchen Walsh take the path less trodden 

The NCAA swimming realm is significantly different from NCAA football and basketball. While the latter enjoys all the glitz and glamour, the swimming community is not so popular. That was, until the names of Gretchen Walsh and Leon Marchand emerged. Their antics on the water have made their social media following go up substantially. Hailing from the University of Virginia, Walsh stormed into the scene by owning the NCAA record in the four fastest events in college swimming. 

Marchand, on the other hand, comes from Arizona State and has continued to build on his reputation after breaking the world record. He is particularly famous for his mic skills as well. In a now-famous interview, Marchand took the world by storm after he dropped the f-bomb in a live interview. Although Marchand had to face significant backlash for the same, personalities like Kyle Sockwell praised his unfiltered portrayal and opined that such a character would help in attracting more crowds. 

A shining example of how influential Marchand is becoming can be attributed to the fact that the NCAA athlete has landed a Louis Vuitton deal ahead of Paris 2024, a rare feat for an NCAA swimmer. And as for Gretchen Walsh, she, along with her sister Alex, has sealed their second NIL collab with Sporti Swim. However, with such an upsurge in popularity, the viewership is also expected to skyrocket. 

Walsh and Marchand have the crowd cheering for their Olympic dreams

Walsh and Marchand’s skyrocketing popularity has also made the audience take an interest in NCAA swimming. What’s more, they are now rooting for the duo to get their Olympic tickets to catalyze the chances of a US medal. As for the dynamic duo, they are very much focused on making it to Paris. Gretchen Walsh has already stated that she aims to accomplish a double of winning the NCAA championship as well as qualify for the Olympics, after winning seven events at the NCAA Championships. 

Leon Marchand, too, is not far behind. Already qualified for Paris, he will have his confidence boosted, as the Frenchman will have the privilege of performing in front of his home crowd. Marchand has recently broken the NCAA record in the 500m by clocking an astonishing time of 4:02.31.

Thus, if the current form is an indication, both Walsh and Marchand are on the right track to emerging as swimming stalwarts and grabbing the spotlight to the sport once again, after it dimmed away to a certain extent with the retirement of Michael Phelps.

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