Paris 2024, Euro Recap: French Medley Relays Give Home Crowd Parting Gift Of National Records

2024 PARIS SUMMER OLYMPIC GAMES

• Pool Swimming: July 27 – August 4, 2024
  • Open Water Swimming: August 8 – 9, 2024
• La Défense Arena — Paris, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet Central
• Full Swimming Schedule
• SwimSwam Preview Index
• Pick ’em Contest
• How To Watch
• Live Results
• European Recap, Day 1: Lukas Märtens Doesn’t “Give A Shit” About 400 Free WR As He Wins Gold
• European Recap, Day 2: Leon Marchand Answers The Hype With An Olympic Record
• European Recap, Day 3: European Men Have Won Every Individual Event Through Three Days
• European Recap, Day 4: Team GB’s 4×200 Free Relay The First To Defend Olympic Gold With Identical Lineup
• European Recap, Day 5: Out of the Spotlight, Josha Salchow is Having The Meet Of His Life
• European Recap, Day 6: Apostolos Christou Wins Greece’s First Medal In The Pool Since 1896
• European Recap, Day 7: Ben Proud Finally Captures His First Olympic Medal
• European Recap, Day 8: Kristof Milak Snaps Hungary’s Streak of Near Misses In the Olympic 100 Fly

Throughout an unpredictable Games, one constant through the nine days of racing at La Défense Arena has been the all-consuming cheers from the crowds. Noticeably absent from the Tokyo Games due to the COVID-19 pandemic regulations, the crowds’ noise has returned with a vengeance over the last nine days.

And it’s never more loud in La Défense when there’s a French swimmer on the deck. If you’re watching at home and you’ve glanced away from the screen as athletes are announced, you know when a French swimmer arrives on the deck. The crowd gets louder, the noise almost deafening from the couch.

Led by Leon Marchand, the French swimmers have given their home crowd a lot to cheer about. Marchand stormed to four golds in four Olympic records and fulfilled his role as the face of the Paris Games. Marchand Madness isn’t just confined to March or swimming’s bubble anymore, it has fully taken over the city of Paris.

After he won his first gold, the 400 IM, Marchand commented on the energy of the crowd.“The atmosphere was amazing, I don’t know how to explain it,” he said. “I had goosebumps before, and during the race too…I opened my eyes, I listened to everything going on around me, and that really pushed me to do a good race.”

The hype kept growing. You could see it during each successive medal ceremony for Marchand–unbelievably, the crowd got louder, and even started changing the lyrics to La Marseillaise to fit his name into the anthem.

The crowd hasn’t just been there for Marchand, though. Anastasia Kirpichnikova put together a silver medal performance in a French record during the women’s 1500 freestyle. Florent Manaudou provided more fireworks; his bronze medal in the 50 freestyle makes him the first man to medal in the event at four consecutive Games. The crowd has gotten behind, to name a few, Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, Maxime Grousset, Mewen Tomac, Marie Wattel, Beryl Gastaldello, Emma Terebo, David Aubry, and Damien Joly with enthusiasm.

And on the final day of the meet, the French athletes got to say thank you to their fans to the tune of two national records and another Olympic medal.

The men were up first for the medley relay. The French had secured lane four based on their morning swims, which meant they were announced to the crowd last. There was a thousands-strong cheer and it was clear the athletes were ready to embrace the crowd and show their love back. Manaudou took his time walking to the block and led the crowd in a cheer.

In a chaotic race, the quartet of Ndoye-Brouard, Marchand, Grousset, and Manaudou never left the podium picture. Ndoye-Brouard led off in 52.60, and Marchand kept them in third with a 58.62 breaststroke leg. Grousset pulled them ahead with a 49.57 fly split, and the crowd was loud as Manaudou dove into the water. He anchored in 47.59, securing them the bronze medal in 3:28.28. That time smashes their super-suited national record, which has stood at 3:29.73 since the 2009 World Championships.

The women kept the momentum rolling. They weren’t in the hunt for the podium like the men were, but they are now the fastest 4×100 medley relay France has ever had. 100 backstroke finalist Terebo got them started in 59.00, and Charlotte Bonnet split 1:06.85 on breaststroke. They went with Wattel and Gastaldello on the back half of the race and they swam 57.29 and 53.15 splits. Their final time of 3:56.29 broke the previous record of 3:56.36, set at the 2022 European Championships.

As the French men won bronze, they got to return to the deck for the medal ceremony. It provided them with another opportunity to say thank you to the crowd. Again, it was Manaudou who led the crowd in a cheer. After the presentation, bearing their medals and flags, they moved slowly around the deck, taking pictures, and signing autographs–returning the appreciation and soaking in the noise of a home Olympic crowd one final time.

Day 9 Quick Hits

• Sarah Sjostrom cemented her legacy as one of the sport’s greatest sprinters by winning her third career Olympic gold. She stormed to the win in the women’s 50 freestyle with a 23.71, just off the Olympic record she swam in the semifinals. Sjostrom now owns 16 of the top 25 performances in the women’s 50 freestyle. She was sub-24 seconds on every round of the event in Paris; Meg Harris became the second swimmer under the barrier in the final with a 23.97 lifetime best.
• Eight years after winning gold in Rio, Gregorio Paltrinieri is back on the men’s 1500 freestyle Olympic podium after a disappointing fourth place in Tokyo. Paltrinieri won silver behind Bobby Finke‘s world-record performance. Paltrinieri himself was at times ahead of Sun Yang‘s world record pace, but couldn’t close at the same breakneck speed. He earned his silver in 14:34.55, the fourth-fastest time of his career and .02 better than his winning time in Rio. It’s his fastest swim in two years. Daniel Wiffen rounded out the podium in bronze (14:39.63), making it the same three swimmers on this podium as the 800 freestyle.

Day 9 Continental and National Records

• Neža Klančar lowered her Slovenian 50 freestyle record for the third time at the Games. In the women’s 50 freestyle final, she swam 24.35 for sixth place. Before this, Slovenia’s highest finish in this event was 25th. She’s the first female Olympic finalist for Slovenia since Sara Isakovič.
• In prelims of the men’s 1500 freestyle, David Betlehem cracked Gergo Kis‘ Hungarian record from 2011 by seven hundredths with a 14:45.59. He destroyed that time in the final, putting up a 14:40.91 to finish fourth. That’s a 4.68-second drop for Betlehem in about 36 hours.
• Betlehem’s swim wasn’t the only national record set in that final. Aubry shaved six-hundredths off the French record in the men’s 1500 freestyle for a seventh-place finish. Aubry held the prior record, which he set at 14:44.72 at the 2019 World Championships.

Final European Medal Table