To the delight of his French fans, Leon Marchand flees with 400 IM gold.
On Sunday night, French swimmer Leon Marchand almost brought down Paris La Défense Arena with a remarkable gold medal-winning performance.e.
After the 22-year-old hero won the men’s 400-meter individual medley for his first medal of the Paris Olympics, the boisterous site, adorned with numerous French flags, burst into excitement. He completed the exhausting event in 4:02.95, an Olympic record.
Marchand led from the beginning and never let up, winning by over six seconds.
Marchand’s time from the 2023 world championships was less than 0.5 seconds slower than his previous world record, but it doesn’t really matter when you win an Olympic gold medal in your own nation. He competed in the event twice for the Olympics and placed sixth in the Tokyo Games in 2021.
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The coach of Marchand and a staff member of the French squad, Bob Bowman, stated, “I’m not sure there’s been anything like this [atmosphere].” “Having that home-team advantage was truly incredible—it wasn’t an advantage, just enthusiasm, you know? It’s absurd. That seemed to be something I hadn’t really seen at a meet.
Marchand described his gold medal performance as “a nice surprise” and something he hadn’t expected, despite the fact that he was the overwhelming favorite to win.
He was quite calm heading into Sunday’s championship, Bowman said. Bowman was Michael Phelps’ longtime coach before taking over the Texas Longhorns team. This was especially true after he had taken an afternoon siesta.
“I think he was very well prepared for the moment, and he’s been very calm and very— just focused on what he needed to do,” Bowman remarked. “On the podium, he was pure joy.”
Carson Foster, an American who was competing in his first Olympics, took third place, 5.71 seconds behind Marchand. Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan took second place, 5.67 seconds behind.
Foster will likely still have to compete against Marchand, but he will have another chance to win a medal in the men’s 200-meter individual medley. Together, they train with the Longhorns pro group under Bowman’s tutelage. After three seasons at Arizona State with Bowman, where he won three Pac-12 Men’s Swimmer of the Year titles, Marchand recently turned pro.
“Marchand has room to improve,” Bowman continued. “He hasn’t lived up to his potential. It was an excellent swim. He’s more than capable of swimming that fast.
“He possesses all the necessary skills: speed, endurance, and underwater abilities.”
Leon Marchand’s supporters erupted
Naturally, on the second day of swimming, Marchand was the star of the show.
More than 15,000 spectators crowded La Defense Arena, many of them sporting the tricolore banner’s red, white, and blue face paint.
An spontaneous performance of “La Marseillaise” and cries of “Léon! Léon! Léon!”
“It’s quite difficult to describe everything because it’s incredible for a swimmer to have this atmosphere in the pool,” Marchand stated. “In front of 15,000 people, how could you not smile? Thank you to everyone who came tonight who is French.”
Marchand, who received his training in the United States while enrolled at Arizona State University, performed admirably to win his first—and most likely not his last—gold medal.
Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan took up the silver, finishing 4:08.62 roughly 6 seconds behind the winner. At 4:08.66, American Carson Foster won bronze.
In Paris, Marchand is just getting established. He has made entries in three additional separate competitions.
“I was really proud of what I did tonight,” he stated. “I’m going to enjoy it tonight, but then I’m going to relax because I have seven or eight days left.”
Marchand had to wait for the other competitors to finish before he got up on the lane rope and gave a pump to the adoring audience that filled the stadium, which is usually used by the renowned rugby team Racing 92.
A suitable location for this performance.
Marchand was the fastest racer of all.
