Home hero Léon Marchand books spot at Paris 2024 with win at French Olympic Trials
French swimmer Léon Marchand booked his place at the Olympic Games Paris 2024 as he stormed to victory in the 400m men’s medley at the 2024 French Swimming Championships on Monday (17 June).
His time of 4:10.62 was enough for Marchand to defend his national title, finishing almost six seconds clear of second-placed finisher Émilien Mattenet. Though the 22-year-old was not pleased with his time, above all the win secured his spot to compete at his home Games this July*.
Speaking after the race in Chartres on the outskirts of Paris, Marchand said, “The time is not good and I do not feel great, but I am in Paris and that is the most important thing. No matter how good I am in training, what happens on the big day is always complicated, you never know.”
*As National Olympic Committees have the exclusive authority for the representation of their respective countries at the Olympic Games, athletes' participation at the Paris Games depends on their NOC selecting them to represent their delegation at Paris 2024.
Though there were few doubts that the five-time world champion would be at Paris 2024, Marchand’s needed a strong performance at the national championships, which double as the French team trials for the Games. This is set to be his second Olympic Games, having made his debut across four events at Tokyo 2020 held in 2021.
“After 250 metres, I no longer had my legs,” he explained, “I was struggling underwater at the turns, I also had difficulty breathing and the crawl was... The next 400m medley will be a series in Paris and that's great! It takes three weeks to really prepare for a competition, so the more time that goes by, the better I will be.”
The men’s Olympic swimming competition begins on 27 July 2024 at the Paris La Defense Arena, which will include the men’s 400m freestyle final and the men’s 4 x 100m freestyle relay final on the opening night of the meet.