Paris roars with Leon Marchand and the record he takes from Phelps
Uncork your wine less, the French want everything as quickly as possible. The second evening at La Defense Arena, the large 17,000-capacity swimming pool where swimming competitions are held, did not wait, as usual, to hold its star event at the end of the session. It was the first of many days for Leon Marchand, the brilliant sensation of French swimming, a school of sprinters rather than mile runners.
He swam 400 complexes, a historical test of champions with truffles. greats like Phelps, Dolan, Darney, Lochte, swimmers who transcend their sport. As scripted, 22-year-old Marchand basked in the glory of the Test, where he took home one of Baltimore’s most prized records last year.
His appearance was loud, at the level of stars. As soon as he emerged through the tunnel, the pavilion went into ecstasy and did not stop, but increased the screams when, after 4:02.95 minutes of swimming, the staff realized that their boy had broken the Olympic record, surpassing Phelps in swimming at the Beijing Olympics, 45 hundredths of a second from the record set by the Frenchman at the World Championships in Fukuoka in 2023.
The competition became a monologue from the first butterfly post. Marchand set the fastest times in the first three events: 54.32 for the butterfly; 1:02.44 for the backstroke; 1:07.48 for the breaststroke, with the pavilion shouting “oe” every time he poked his head out. In the free, the next time he was over 6.30, he lost some of his momentum. He finished the two events in 58.71. Japan’s Matsushita, who came back from fifth, took silver (4:08.62), and the American Carson Foster (4:08.66) took bronze.
In the stands was the same character as in all the cycles, Bob Bowman, coach of both. He called the American the best Olympic athlete in history and has continued to do amazing things with the Frenchman since they first reached out by email four years ago. “Marchand? You’re not Xavier Marchand?” he thought. He was the son of an Olympic champion, a boy who as a child would not go near a pool because the water was cold, who at 19 wanted to succeed in swimming and who blindly wrote, begging for an opportunity, like suitcases do. Upon learning of the relationship, he immediately recruited him to Arizona State. In the process, he added 10 college degrees.
The Marseillaise began to play, a moment Leon had not wanted to imagine. to make him even more special. Bowman sees Felpian conditioning in him and therefore loads him with routine volume before each competition. Before the trials, as a warm-up, no more than 2500 meters are visible, but the boy’s face shows no signs of fatigue.