NANTERRE, France (AP) — Leon Marchand carried the comparisons to Michael Phelps and the hopes of a nation on his broad shoulders.
The 22-year-old Frenchman handled it all with ease, setting himself up to be one of the biggest stars of the Paris Olympics.
With a flag-waving crowd cheering his every stroke, Marchand delivered a swimming gold for France with a dominating victory in the men’s 400-meter individual medley Sunday night.
Marchand was ahead as soon as his head popped from the water and he steadily pulled away from the field in what was essentially two separate races: Marchand going against the clock and everyone else competing for silver and bronze.
“I started very, very fast,” he said. “I didn’t look at the other lanes. I was focused on myself.”
Marchand was under world-record pace on the final turn but faded a bit coming home, touching in 4 minutes, 2.95 seconds — an Olympic record, but just shy of his own world mark of 4:02.50. Marchand claimed that vaunted standard at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing the record held by Phelps for 15 years.
Not surprisingly, the young Frenchman has been mentioned frequently as the next Phelps — especially since he guided by the same coach, American Bob Bowman, who was with the most decorated athlete in Olympic history throughout his career.
Marchand lived up to those staggering expectations, for one night at least, and Phelps was in the building to witness it all as a member of NBC’s broadcast team.
Marchand was a bit delayed getting to the interview area. Turns out, he had to take a phone call — from French President Emmanuel Macron.
“He said that he watched the race with all of his family and they all screamed when I won,” Marchand said through a translator.
Huske and Walsh go 1-2 for the U.S. women in the 100 butterfly
Not long after Marchand walked off deck, Torri Huske knocked off world-record holder Gretchen Walsh in the women’s 100 butterfly, using a strong finish to get her hands to the wall just ahead of her teammate in a 1-2 finish for the United States.
The favorite went out with her usual strategy: start fast and try to hold on. It worked at the U.S. trials, where she set her world record of 55.18 last month, and she was under record pace at the turn.
But Huske chased her down in the race that really mattered. The winner touched in 55.59 — about the length of a finger ahead of Walsh’s time of 55.63.
When Huske saw the “1” beside her name of the scoreboard, she reached across the lane 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 finish and seeing the 1-2 up there was amazing. I’m so proud of Torri. I’m proud of myself.”
A bronze for Chinese swimmer embroiled in controversy
Zhang Yufei of China claimed the bronze in 56.21, which is sure to raise eyebrows since she was one of nearly two dozen swimmers from her country who tested positive for a banned substance ahead of the Tokyo Olympics but were allowed to compete. Zhang has insisted that she’s racing clean.
Italian Martinenghi wins men’s 100 breaststroke over record-holder Peaty
The men’s 100 breaststroke marked the end of Adam Peaty’s dominant run in that event.
The gold medalist in both Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo, Peaty took a long layoff to deal with mental health issues. Upon his return, he worked his way back up to speed and came into the final as the top qualifier.
But the star from Great Britain came up just short of making it three golds in a row. Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi was the winner out in lane seven, touching in 59.03. Peaty shared the silver with American Nic Fink after they finished just two-hundredths behind the winner in 59.05.
“I’m not sad at all,” Peaty said. “I think anyone that’s done sport — you put yourself on the line every single time. So there’s no such thing as a loss.”
Full-time engineer Fink ties for silver
For the 31-year-old Fink, it was the first Olympic medal of his late-blooming career. His swimming career, that is. Fink also works full time for an engineering firm, clocking 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 some sense,” Fink said. “But in another sense, it means more at this time, especially because there was definitely windows to close my career earlier and I kind of kept going for the love of the sport. To have this much success this late has been icing on the cake and a lot of fun.”
Marchand’s fans went wild
Of course, on Day 2 of swimming, everyone was playing second fiddle to Marchand.
La Defense Arena was packed with more than 15,000 fans, many of them with their faces painted in the blue, white and red of the tricolore banner.
Chants of “Léon! Léon! Léon!” and an impromtu rendition of “La Marseillaise” broke out in the rugby stadium a full 15 minutes before Marchand walked on deck for the first final of 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 could you not smile when you’re in front of 15,000 people? I want to thank all the French people who came tonight.”
Marchand, who trained in the U.S. while attending Arizona State University, came through with flying colors to capture the first gold medal of his career, but surely not the last.
The silver went to Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita, who finished nearly 6 seconds behind the winner in 4:08.62. American Carson Foster claimed the bronze at 4:08.66.
Marchand is just getting started in Paris. He’s entered in three more individual events.
“I was 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 for everyone else to finish, then he climbed on the lane rope and pumped his left fist for an adoring crowd that packed a stadium normally used by famed rugby club Racing 92.
An appropriate venue for this performance.
No one raced faster than Marchand.
