Paris 2024, European Recap Day 2: Leon Marchand Answers The Hype With An Olympic Record

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

Allez! 

Allez! 

Every time Leon Marchand‘s head popped out of the water on the breaststroke leg of the men’s 400 IM final, the La Défense crowd’s screams rose to meet him. The atmosphere in the arena during the race was electric, making the crescendo that greeted Marchand when he walked out for the final seem small.

For months, Marchand, who hails from Toulouse, has been heralded as the face of the Games for the host nation France. Coupled with the dramatic increase in attention that swimming gets during the Olympics, it’s landed a different kind of pressure on Marchand’s shoulders. In the Paris streets, fans are walking around with Marchand face cutouts. There was a deep queue to get into La Défense for this evening’s session. And per Devin Heroux, the crowd spontaneously sang the French anthem before the session began.

It’s a step up from what Marchand has been managing since his breakout in 2022. After all, it was the weight of a nation. Stunning swims in his freshman campaign for ASU during the 2021-22 season put Marchand on the map. He broke out on the international scene at that summer’s World Championships, where he swept the IMs and became the second-fastest performer in the 400 IM. For the first time, Michael Phelps‘ 400 IM world record looked vulnerable. He also picked up silver in the 200 fly and was named the Male Swimmer of the Meet.

The next year was when he first showed his grace under pressure. Marchand arrived at the 2023 World Championships with all eyes on him as everyone waited with bated breath to see if he would erase Phelps’ 400 IM world record. The NBC broadcast even had Phelps on the call during that first finals session, as Marchand broke the world record in a resounding 4:02.50.

He followed up with two more golds (200 fly, 200 IM) and repeated as the Male Swimmer of the Meet.

When asked at the 2024 Men’s Division I NCAA Championships how he was handling the pressure of the season after exemplary exploits in his first two years, Marchand responded “I’m sort of playing with it a little bit, that’s also why I changed events. I’m trying to do different stuff…trying to answer this pressure. I feel pretty good at it now…I would say last year [2023] was different because that was really the beginning. But now I can handle it more, better. I like it, it’s not too bad.”

But even Marchand found himself caught up by the frenzy of the La Défense crowd. “That was really hard for me to focus on myself today…the breaststroke was insane because I could hear the whole stadium,” the 22-year-old said in a post-race interview.

As he’s done before, Marchand answered the pressure in style. He tore to the win in the men’s 400 IM, making the first Olympic medal of his career gold. He touched the wall at 4:02.95, taking down Phelps’ Olympic record from 2008. The cheers for Marchand extended beyond the crowd bearing witness in the stadium. Across Paris at the table tennis venue, the crowd burst into chants for Marchand as well.

After the race, he returned the love to 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…that was special and winning today was really amazing for me. I opened my eyes, I listened to everything going on around me, and that really pushed me to do a good race.”

For that brief period during tonight’s session, it was a symbiotic relationship between Marchand and the crowd. The thousands of fans screaming for the French face of the Games spurred Marchand on. And in return, Marchand lived up to all the hype and pressure that had swirled around him by wiping another historic record off the books and delivering Olympic gold.

Day 2 Quick Hits

• Nicolo Martinenghi made his move in the closing meters of the men’s 100 breaststroke final, coming from third at the turn to claim his first Olympic gold in an upset. It was the slowest Olympic final in this race since 2004, but that won’t matter to Martinenghi, who earned his first Olympic gold in 59.03. Martinenghi won bronze in Tokyo three years ago and has been a consistent podium presence in this event since then. On the World Championship stage, he won gold in 2022 and collected silver in both 2023 and 2024. This is Italy’s first gold in the event since 2000.
• In the same race, Adam Peaty tied with Nic Fink for silver. Peaty became the first man to make the 100 breaststroke Olympic podium three times. Peaty was slightly slower than his semifinal swim, touching in 59.05 to tie with Fink. Princess Anne presented Peaty with his medal and for the second time in two days, we got to see a swimmer celebrating with their son during the victory lap as Peaty got a chance to embrace his son.
• Great Britain had an interesting day at the pool after a disappointing night 1. Peaty was the highlight, but Ollie Morgan and Jonny Marshall both advanced to the men’s 100 back semifinals. Morgan qualified for the finals as well in 52.85, the second-fastest swim of his career. Angharad Evans also made it through her semifinals, qualifying for the women’s 100 breaststroke final in 6th (1:05.99). Duncan Scott (1:44.94) and Matt Richards (1:45.63) went to work and made the men’s 200 freestyle final. On the bittersweet side, Max Litchfield set a British record in the men’s 400 IM final but finished 4th–just off the podium–for the third Olympics in a row.

Day 2 Continental and National Records

• Lucas Henveaux lowered his Belgian record in the men’s 200 freestyle. After missing out on the 400 freestyle final by tying for 12th place, Henveaux rebounded by qualifying for the 200 freestyle semifinals in national-record fashion. The 23-year-old clocked 1:46.04, lowering his record from the 1:46.20 he swam in April 2023.
• Mona McSharry shaved .04 seconds off her Irish record in the women’s 100 breaststroke to qualify for tomorrow’s final. McSharry logged a 1:05.51, breaking the record she set at the 2023 World Championships. McSharry, who trains at the University of Tennessee, qualified 2nd for the final, .51 seconds behind Tatjana Schoenmaker.
• Along with becoming the first NCAA Division II swimmer to make an Olympic final, Cedric Buessing broke the nine-year-old German record in the men’s 400 IM. In prelims, Buessing swam 4:11.52, taking the German record sub-4:12 for the first time. Jacob Heidtmann previously held the record, which he set at 4:12.08 during the 2015 World Championships.
• Hubert Kos led the way into the men’s 100 backstroke semifinals with a Hungarian record. Kos has reset this record multiple times in the last year, most recently taking it down to 53.08 at the San Antonio PSS. He torched that mark in the Olympic prelims, popping a 52.78 for a .30 second drop and breaking 53 for the first time in his career.

European Medal Table Thru Day 2