Léon Marchand runs away with 400 IM gold to the joy of French fans

NANTERRE, France — French swimmer Léon Marchand nearly brought down Paris La Défense Arena on Sunday night with a standout gold medal-winning performance. The rowdy venue, abundant with French flags, erupted in celebration after the 22-year-old star won the men’s 400-meter individual medley for his first medal of the Paris Olympics, finishing the grueling event with a time of 4:02.95, an Olympic record.

Always in the lead following the start, Marchand totally dominated and won by nearly six seconds.

"I went off very fast, and I wasn't preoccupied by what was going on around me,” Marchand said. “I was focused on my race, my performance. I wanted to put everything into it.

"At 250 meters, I realized I was well in front, and it was time to go for a [best] time. But an Olympic record is unbelievable."

Marchand was less than a half-second off his 4:02.50 world record time from the 2023 world championships, but that hardly matters when win an Olympic gold medal in your home country. A two-time Olympian, he finished sixth in the event at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

“I'm not sure there's been anything like this [atmosphere],” said Bob Bowman, Marchand’s coach and a member of the French team’s staff. “It was amazing really to have that home-team advantage — not an advantage, but just energy, right? It's crazy. I feel like it was something that I haven't really seen in a meet.”

Even as the clear favorite to win, Marchand said his gold-medal performance was “a nice surprise” and something he didn’t envision.

"I opened my eyes, I listened to everything going on around me, and that really pushed me to do a good race," he said.

Especially with an afternoon nap, he was very relaxed going into Sunday’s final, said Bowman, who was Michael Phelps’ longtime coach and recently took over the Texas Longhorns’ program.

“He's been very calm and very — just focused on what he needed to do, and I think he was very well prepared for the moment,” Bowman said. “He was just joy [on the podium].”

American first-time Olympian Carson Foster finished with a bronze, 5.71 seconds behind Marchand. Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita took silver, 5.67 seconds back.

Foster will have another shot at a medal in the men’s 200-meter IM, but he’ll still likely have to face Marchand again. The pair train together under Bowman with the Longhorns pro group. Marchand recently turned pro after three seasons with Bowman at Arizona State, where he was a three-time Pac-12 Men's Swimmer of the Year.

“[Marchand] can be better,” Bowman added. “He's not reached his potential. That was a great swim. He can definitely swim faster than that. …

“He's got the total package: He’s got the speed, he's got the endurance, he's got the underwaters.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Paris Olympics: Léon Marchand runs away with 400 IM gold