Leon Marchand Returns To The Top Of The Podium After “Pretty Amazing” Olympics
Leon Marchand transcended his sport in Paris as he soared to four gold medals, captivating the sporting world and beyond.
La Defense Arena was a cauldron of noise before he set foot on poolside, rising to a crescendo each time the Frenchman claimed each of his four titles in the 200 and 400IM, 200 fly and 200 breaststroke.
Bob Bowman, coach to Marchand, said last month that “I think you’ll see in the World Cups that he’ll play with different events and see what happens.”
Marchand returned to the international pool on Friday at the opening leg of the World Cup in Shanghai, China.
There he won the 100IM, holding off Noè Ponti to touch by the narrowest of margins in 50.65 to 50.66 as he elevated himself to fourth in the all-time rankings.
Only Caeleb Dressel with his eye-watering 49.28 WR, Vladimir Mozorov (50.26) and Kliment Kolesnikov (50.63) now eclipse Marchand.
After racing, Marchand told World Aquatics:
“I enjoyed racing Noè tonight. The Olympics were pretty amazing for me, I took some time off from that, I got back in the water about a month and a half ago. I don’t really expect a lot of great results. I am just enjoying racing now so it’s cool. I am just trying to have fun.
“I think it’s a good time, but I haven’t really swam that event before. It was a really fun race from the beginning. Noe just swam another event 20 minutes ago. I thought it was really exciting to race Noè Ponti, and it was a really close race. I will race the 100IM event at every stop of the World Cup. I love being able to travel and go overseas to race. We also have two more stops on the World Cup, and I will be enjoying it all.”
Of why he wore a Dressel cap, he said: “Because he’s a legend. I just love that guy. He inspired me a lot and really helped me with my mental health as well. We exchanged caps at the Olympics. I was proud to wear his cap.”
- Day 1 finals report
- Link to results