NANTERRE, France (AP) — Leon Marchand carried on his broad shoulders comparisons to Michael Phelps and the hopes of a nation.
The 22-year-old Frenchman handled the situation with ease, establishing himself as one of the biggest stars of the Paris Olympics.
In front of a flag-waving crowd cheering his every move, Marchand delivered a gold medal to France in swimming with a landslide victory in the men’s 400-meter individual medley on Sunday night.
Marchand was in the lead from the moment he emerged from the water and gradually pulled away from the pack in what were essentially two separate races: Marchand battling the clock and everyone else battling for silver and bronze.
“I started very, very quickly,” he said. “I didn’t look at the other paths. I was focused on myself.”
Marchand was under the world record in the final turn, but he faltered a bit as he came to the finish line, hitting the Olympic record in 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds, just under his own world mark of 4 minutes, 02.50 seconds. Marchand broke that much-vaunted record at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing Phelps’ 15-year-old record.
Unsurprisingly, the young Frenchman has been frequently mentioned as the next Phelps — especially since he was guided by the same coach, American Bob Bowman, who accompanied the most decorated athlete in Olympic history throughout his career.
Marchand lived up to those staggering expectations, at least for one night, and Phelps was in the building to see it all as part of NBC’s broadcast team.
Marchand was slightly delayed in arriving at the interview area. It turned out he had to take a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron.
“He said he watched the race with his whole family and they all screamed when I won,” Marchand said through a translator.
Huske and Walsh seal 1-2 wins for Americans in 100m butterfly
Shortly after Marchand left the deck, Torri Huske knocked off world record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 100 butterfly, using a strong finish to put her hands on the wall just ahead of her teammate in a 1-2 finish for the United States.
The favourite followed her usual strategy: start fast and try to hold on. It worked in the US qualifiers, where she set her world record of 55.18 last month, and she was under the record pace at the turn.
But Huske caught up to her in the race that really mattered. The winner touched down in 55.59 seconds, about a finger’s width ahead of Walsh’s time of 55.63 seconds.
When Huske saw the “1” next to her name on the scoreboard, she reached over the rope to give Walsh a hug while breaking down in tears.
“I feel like there was a lot of pressure on me,” Walsh said. “It was definitely a fight to the end and to see the double there was incredible. I’m so proud of Torri. I’m proud of myself.”
Bronze medal for Chinese swimmer embroiled in controversy
China’s Zhang Yufei won the bronze medal in 56.21 seconds, which is sure to raise eyebrows as she was one of the almost two dozen swimmers Zhang, a native of her country, tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but was allowed to compete. Zhang insisted she was running clean.
Italy’s Martinenghi wins men’s 100m breaststroke against record holder Peaty
The men’s 100m breaststroke marked the end of Adam Peaty’s dominance in the event.
A gold medallist in Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, Peaty had to take a long break to deal with mental health issues. Upon his return, he managed to get back on his feet and qualified as the top of the final.
But the British star narrowly missed out on his third consecutive gold medal. Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi won the race in lane seven in 59.03. Peaty shared the silver with American Nic Fink after finishing just two hundredths of a second behind the winner in 59.05.
“I’m not sad at all,” Peaty said. “I think anyone who’s played sport puts themselves in danger every time. So there’s no defeat.”
Full-time engineer Fink wins silver medal
For Fink, 31, it was the first Olympic medal of his late career. His swimming career, that is. Fink also works full time for an engineering firm, he clocks in remotely from his home in Dallas when he’s not at the pool.
Fink and his wife are expecting their first child.
“Yeah, age is just a number in a sense,” Fink said. “But in another sense, it means more at this point, especially because there were definitely windows to end my career earlier and I kind of kept going for the love of the game. To have this much success so late has been icing on the cake and a lot of fun.”
Marchand fans have gone crazy
Of course, on the second day of swimming, everyone was playing second fiddle to Marchand.
The Defense Arena was filled with more than 15,000 fans, many of whom had their faces painted in the blue, white and red of the tricolor banner.
Chants of “Leon! Leon! Leon!” and an impromptu rendition of “La Marseillaise” erupted through the rugby stadium 15 minutes before Marchand took to the deck for the first final of the evening.
“It’s quite difficult to describe everything because it’s incredible for a swimmer to have this atmosphere in the pool,” Marchand said. “How can you not smile when you’re in front of 15,000 people? I want to thank all the French people who came tonight.”
Merchantwho trained in the United States while attending Arizona State University, won the first gold medal of his career, but certainly not his last.
The silver medal went to Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita, who finished nearly 6 seconds behind the winner in 4:08.62. American Carson Foster took bronze in 4:08.66.
Marchand is only just starting out in Paris. He is already registered for three other individual events.
“I’m really proud of what I did tonight,” he said. “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 until everyone had finished, then he climbed the rope of the route and raised his left fist in front of an adoring crowd that filled a stadium normally used by the famous rugby club Racing 92.
A suitable venue for this performance.
No one ran faster than Marchand.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games