The local hero

Marchand takes first gold in swimming party

Leon Marchand

(Bild: AFP)

Leon Marchand has provided a great Olympic swimming party! The Frenchman was crowned Olympic champion for the first time in his career in the 400 m medley in Paris on Sunday, leaving the La Defense arena shaking with emotion.

Marchand won by a large margin ahead of Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita and Carson Foster from the USA. In 4:02.95 minutes, the 22-year-old swam an Olympic record - and fell less than half a second short of his own world record.

Deafening shouts of "Allez Leon"
At the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Marchand broke Michael Phelps' world record, which had stood for 15 years. Ever since this coup, the Olympic hopes of the "Grande Nation" had been resting on his shoulders. The atmosphere during his race was reminiscent of that in a soccer stadium. Thousands of fans sang the French national anthem. As Marchand made his way to the starting block, the spectators cheered on their star with deafening shouts of "Allez Leon". Later, the exceptional swimmer celebrated with his arms raised.

Marchand is coached by Bob Bowman, who once turned US superstar Phelps into a gold medal machine. The record Olympic champion with 23 title wins watched his successor as world record holder, the "French Michael Phelps", as he is already known, as a TV pundit for the US broadcaster NBC himself in the hall on his arms and legs. Marchand has three more individual starts in which he wants to be one of the faces of the Games.

Martinenghi denies Peaty third Olympic victory in a row
In the 100 m breaststroke, Italy's Nicolo Martinenghi denied Great Britain's Adam Peaty his third Olympic victory in a row. World record holder Peaty, who would have been only the second swimmer in history after Phelps to triumph over the same distance at three consecutive Olympic Games, had to settle for silver, two hundredths of a second behind the US American Nic Fink. Torri Huske triumphed in the women's 100m dolphin ahead of her US compatriot and world record holder Gretchen Walsh. Bronze went to China's Zhang Yufei.