Paris 2024 Swimming: Leon Marchand sets fourth Olympic record and wins gold in 200m individual medley

France’s newfound national hero Leon Marchand continued his unbelievable campaign on Friday, 2 August at the Olympic Games Paris 2024, with yet another gold medal and Olympic record, this time in the 200m individual medley, where he clocked a blistering 1:54.06.

The time puts him within 0.06 seconds of **Ryan Lochte’**s world record that has held true for over two decades.

“I don’t know how I did that,” Marchand said after the race, still stunned.

He admitted that he hadn’t had time to think about just how much of a mark he had made on French history, “but now I need this time to think about what I just did,” he said.

Friday night's race concluded Marchand’s laundry list of individual events at these Games, meaning that he not only refused anything but the gold in every single race, but he also left an indelible mark on Olympic history by setting a Games record in every single one.

Marchand will wrap up his individual campaign as the reigning champion and Olympic record holder of the men's 400m IM, 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly and, now, the 200m IM.

As if it couldn't get any better than that, in three of the four races the 22-year-old from Toulouse faced the defending Olympic champion and ended each and every one of their reigns.

To have all of that done in front of a home crowd as the entire nation stood behind him … incredible.

With estimates of up to 15,000 people in the audience at Paris La Defense Arena, the support was deafening before he even got in the pool, so when he was the first to touch the wall — a whole 1.25 seconds ahead of second place — the stadium exploded.

One of many notable members of that crowd was French President Emmanual Macron, who could not contain his excitement as another gold went to the host nation.

Great Britain’s Duncan Scott took the silver medal with a time of 1:55.31, just as he did at Tokyo 2020, while People’s Republic of China’s reigning champion Wang Shun took bronze in 1:56.10.

“I liked that I went head to head with [Marchand] for a little bit of the race,” Scott said after taking the silver.

“That guy is the best in the world in the 200m breaststroke, in the 200m butterfly, in the 400m individual medley and [now] in the 200m [IM].

“If I'm behind him, then that's one person that can beat me.”

The 22-year-old is also getting a lot of praise from someone who many deem as the greatest athlete of all time: Michael Phelps.

“He was just really happy for me,” Marchand said about messages he’s been receiving from Phelps.

“I saw this video of him commentating [on] my race, just jumping around and screaming. I thought it was really funny and I just really appreciate this guy,” he said.

Marchand broke two of Phelps’ records in Paris, both of which have held true for over two decades.

The first 50m of the race was tight, but at the 100-metre mark Marchand began to define his lead, setting himself an entire body length ahead of second place by the 150 mark.

By the final lap, there was no question that he would, once again, reign supreme.

What the swimmer is most proud of, though, was his ability to maintain his composure. "It’s maybe my biggest pride," he said. "The ‘me’ from five years ago, with that much pressure, it would have been complicated to manage from the first race. But I came here with a smile and I felt good from the beginning to the end. I managed to handle the pressure without ignoring it.”

So to conclude his individual competiton in Paris, it was only right that the entire arena chanted his name while waving hundreds of flags, as millions of people across the country watched their blue, white and red colours raised in the gold medal position for Marchand, yet again.

Swimming: Men's 200m individual medley podium

Gold: Leon Marchand, France - 1:54.06 OR

Silver: Duncan Scott, Great Britain - 1:55.31

Bronze: Wang Shun, People’s Republic of China - 1:56.00

See the full results on Olympics.com.