Tunisia's Jaouadi savours first world title after depression battle

Ahmed Jaouadi said he spent months battling depression following a disappointing end to 2024 but the Tunisian was all smiles on Wednesday after winning the 800 metres freestyle title in the third-fastest time ever at the world championships in Singapore.

Jaouadi had finished third in the event at the Budapest short course world championships last December and the 20-year-old was so disheartened by the result he did not return to training until March.

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However, his performance at the Singapore Sports Hub proved he had no reason to doubt himself.

Jaouadi reached the wall in seven minutes, 36.88 seconds, a time that sits behind only China's Zhang Lin (7:32.12) and fellow Tunisian Ous Mellouli (7:35.27) in the all-time list.

Both Zhang and Mellouli achieved their marks in 2009 wearing high-tech "supersuits", which are now banned.

"Actually it means a lot. It's the third-best time ever," said Jaouadi.

"It feels great. Especially this season. I didn't go back to training until March. I didn't have a lot of time to prepare for this. After Budapest, I got into some kind of depression and I wasn't ready to go back to training at some point.

"It makes me really happy. During the last days of training, I was expecting this, and I knew that I'll go fast. But at some point, I didn't have a lot of confidence going through.

"My team, my staff, the people around me knew how to control things and helped me through this."

Jaouadi made his move after the halfway mark to beat the German pair of Sven Schwarz and Lukas Martens in the final and win his first major title.

"I just pushed my head down. I saw that as soon as I started to push down on my arms, I started to go faster than the others, I started to pull away," he added.

Jaouadi dedicated his gold medal to compatriot and Tokyo Olympics 400 freestyle champion Ahmed Hafnaoui, who was given a 21-month suspension in April by the Aquatic Sports Integrity Unit for three whereabouts failures.

"This one was for Hafnaoui," Jaouadi added.

"He's having some hard times now and I'd like to offer it for him."

Meanwhile, Olympic champion Leon Marchand said his decision to opt for a reduced schedule at the world championships in Singapore had paid off handsomely after the Frenchman smashed the 200 metres individual medley world record on Wednesday.

Marchand won four individual gold medals at the Paris Olympics in 2024 but his efforts at his home Games left him exhausted and needing time to rest.

He returned to action in Florida in May and arrived in Singapore with only the 200 and 400 medleys on his programme for individual events.

The 23-year-old has slipped back into competition mode with ease and produced a stunning 1:52.69 in his 200 medley semifinal to shave nearly one-and-a-half seconds off Ryan Lochte's mark (1:54.00) set at the world championships in Shanghai in 2011.

The Toulouse native shook his fist and punched the water in celebration, and later said the decision to come in with a lighter workload had been vindicated.

"It was probably the right decision," Marchand said.

"I'm grateful for my coaches, all the staff behind me. It's been a pretty hard season for me, but I’m so happy to be here."

Marchand, who also holds the 400 IM world record, said he needed a moment to process his achievement on Wednesday before finally finding the words to describe his feelings.

"It's just an explosion of joy," he added.

"I feel all the choices I made this year were the right ones and I want to thank everyone who's been supporting me. Since the Games, I've had this goal in mind. I didn't expect things to come together again so quickly.

"Right now, I'm trying to get some good sleep — which isn't easy - but tomorrow's the final, and it's going to be great."