Paris Olympics, Day 2 Finals: Leon Marchand Delights Crowd with 4:02.95, 400 IM Gold
Image Credit: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
Day 2 of the Paris Olympics featured thrilling finals, with the highlight being Leon Marchand's impressive swim in the 400m freestyle. Marchand delighted the crowd with a stunning time of 4:02.95, securing the gold medal for himself.
The queue outside the Paris La Defense Arena stretched over 500 meters on Sunday night. Tickets for the upcoming finals sessions are being sold for over 400 online. The cries of "LE-ON" started thirty minutes before the finals began, only stopping for the crowd to sing La Marseillaise.
The event on Sunday evening felt more like a social gathering than a competitive swim meet.
Appropriate, as the main guest was not competing in a race but rather being crowned.
Leon Marchand thrilled the excited crowd by narrowly missing the world record and capturing his first gold medal in a time of 4:02.95. He surpassed Michael Phelps' Olympic record by almost a second and left his competitors far behind. The only question left was whether his own world record would still stand.
This is the first time in ten years that a French male swimmer has won a gold medal, with the last one being in 2012 by Florent Manaudou. In the past, Yannick Angel also won a gold medal in the 200 free event and the French team won the 400 free relay. This victory marks the ninth gold medal in the entire history of the French swimming program.
Tomoyuki Matsushita from Japan won the silver medal with a time of 4:08.62, narrowly beating Carson Foster who secured his first Olympic medal by winning the bronze.
After Tokyo, Marchand has accomplished a lot, so it's surprising that Sunday will be his first Olympic medal. He first competed in the Olympics at the age of 19 in the 400 individual medley, finishing sixth with a national record of 4:09.65. This race is like Michael Phelps' swim in the 200 butterfly in Sydney in the Marchand history.
Three years and seven seconds afterwards, Marchand continues to show his incredible talent and potential. During this time, he has achieved many accomplishments, including winning the world title in the 400 IM and 200 IM twice each. Additionally, he has earned eight individual NCAA titles, two relay titles, set 12 national records, 11 U.S. Open records, and most recently, won a gold medal.
