Swimming: France’s Leon Marchand delights home crowd by winning 400m individual medley gold in Olympic record

Leon Marchand has the world record in the 400m individual medley and won the World Championships in that event in 2022 and 2023. He was missing one thing – an Olympic gold medal. But now the French swimmer has that too.

Marchand led for the entire race and broke Michael Phelps’ Olympic record with a time of 4:02.95.

Swimming: Men's 400 individual medley podium

Gold medal: Leon Marchand, France
Silver medal: Tomoyuki Matsushita, Japan
Bronze medal: Carson Foster, USA

Before Marchand was even announced, the crowd at La Defense Arena were chanting his name and singing “Marsellaise.” They erupted into cheers when he was announced, and Marchand raised both arms and waved to the crowd.

Once he was in the pool, Marchand led for the entire race. He didn’t appear to have a weak stroke, as he never let any opponents back into the race. Once his win was official, Marchand sat on the lane divider and waved to the screaming crowds. He had a wide smile on his face from the second he stepped onto the podium in the medal ceremony, and he closed his eyes for a moment as he joined his compatriots in singing the national anthem.

"The atmosphere was amazing, I don't know how to explain it. I had goosebumps before, and during the race too. On the breaststroke section I could hear everyone just cheering for me. That was special and winning today was really amazing for me," Marchand said after the swim.

The real battle ended up coming for the silver and bronze medals. Japan’s Matsushita Tomoyuki out-touched Carson Foster from the U.S., with Matshushita winning by 0.04 seconds. Great Britain's Max Litchfield took fourth.

Chase Kalisz from the U.S., who won gold in the 400 IM at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, did not make the final.