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Singapore: Leon Marchand said on Saturday that he still has "a lot to do in the swimming world" a year on from his sensational home Olympics in Paris.
The 23-year-old was the face of the Paris Games last summer, winning four individual gold medals to thrill the French fans and become a national hero.
Speaking on the eve of his first major competition since, at the world championships in Singapore, Marchand said it had been "a transition year" since his exploits in the French capital.
"It's more like getting back into the game," said Marchand, who won the 200m and 400m individual medley events in Paris, and the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke.
"I had a pretty good year of relaxing and getting back into it, but really taking my time.
"I'm excited for the world championships.
I want to be close to my personal bests in all my races and of course break world records in the next few years.
"I still have a lot to do in the swimming world."
Marchand, the world record holder in the 400m medley and a multiple world champion, said that the attention now heaped on him from the French public in particular was "a lot to handle at first".
"It's been good and bad," he said of the adulation he now receives back home.
"I am getting used to it, I know how to handle it better, I know how to say no better.
"I get a lot more peace when I travel outside of France, for sure.
I was able to train better and do my own thing like usual."
Marchand has scaled back his schedule in Singapore to focus on the 200m and 400m medley and ultimately has his sights set on Ryan Lochte's long-standing 200m world record.
The world championships start on Sunday.
