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France has a new superstar and Leon Marchand has fully arrived. Gold in the 400m individual medley, Marchand has not just ended a 12-year drought, he has surely announced a new era of swimming.
Finally succeeding Yannick Agnel, Camille Muffat and Florent Manaudou, who had claimed in the build-up to the Games that France was “not a sport country,” the hosts revelled in this dominant swim.
Marchand may yet change Manaudou’s perception, extending its passion beyond football and rugby, after beginning his quest for dominance at Paris 2024 with this Olympic record, in 4mins and 2.95 secs.
The supporters inside La Defense Arena cried out olé on the final leg with the gold medal in the bag.
One of the faces of Paris 2024, alongside Antoine Dupont and Victor Wembanyana, Marchand’s presence is hard to miss in this city, painted 200m high on the Tour Montparnasse.
Make no mistake this is not a bolt from le bleu, Marchand has asserted himself on the world stage already, taking three gold medals in three individual races and a world record at the world championships last year.
A precious first Olympic gold here though, ensures dominance awaits, with the 200 IM, 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke still to come.
Trained by Michael Phelps’ former mentor, Bob Bowman, Marchand has erased the greatest swimmer of all time from the record books. Posting 4mins and 2.50secs at the 2023 World Championships to snatch the 15-year-old record, which was Phelps’ last since retirement.
Marchand beat out Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita in silver, while bronze went to Team USA’s Carson Foster, who won silver in the 400 IM at the 2022 and 2023 world championships behind Marchand.
Marchand will now have a recovery day after but will return to the pool for a doubleheader on Tuesday 30 July, with the audacious double of 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke.
Four separate solo events in seven days then, with the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke finals just an hour and a half apart on Wednesday evening, then the 200m later in the week.
Marchand has not shied away from the intense toll on his body: “The schedule isn’t too bad for me. There’s an hour and a half between the two finals. It’s very tough, it’s a big challenge, but I think I can do it.”
Away from the glittering gold, there was agony behind for Great Britain’s Joe Litchfield, who came fourth, suffering the same fate as in Rio and Tokyo for a horrible threepeat.
It was little consolation for Litchfield, but his 4mins and 8.85secs was a British record.
