France’s Olympic superstar rose above the noise and the competition to stand atop the podium on Sunday night as La Marseillaise played in front of a packed crowd at La Defense arena.
World record holder Leon Marchand dominated his rivals in the men’s 400m individual medley to win France’s third gold medal in Paris, his first Olympic medal in his first Olympic final.
Marchand, who broke Michael Phelps’ long-standing record at the 2023 World Championships, won by more than six seconds in a time of 4 minutes 2.95 seconds. Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita won the silver medal, beating America’s Carson Foster by just 0.04 seconds.
Marchand, 22, from Toulouse, led from the start of the four events and took a commanding lead in the second 100-meter backstroke, with the French crowd cheering loudly with every stroke as Marchand extended his lead throughout the race.
2024 Paris Olympics
Despite the expectations for the young man, the only question mark during the race was whether Marchand would be able to beat his own world record. Although Marchand ultimately failed to do so, his time did set an Olympic record.
By the time the athletes reached the final 50 metres, Marchand had a lead of more than six seconds over his nearest competitor.
For the host country, Marchand became one of the faces of the Olympics, his face was on billboards and the event was one of the hottest tickets on the ground in Paris. After the win, Marchand went round to hug his team.
Marchand is scheduled to compete in two events on Tuesday night, the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke, the former of which he has a gold medal to offer at the 2023 World Championships.
