La Defénse Arena roars, and it spreads through Nanterre, Paris, France, and the Olympic movement. Because the birth of a new era is hinted at. Because the true roar that expands across the planet is that of León. That of Léon Marchand. “¡Léon, Léon!” they shout as soon as he enters the scene, and with every flutter, each of the 17,000 souls watching live the swimming event has prepared for the moment by spontaneously chanting La Marsellesa. And so that no detail falls into the abyss of chance, they have seen the GOAT, Michael Phelps, strolling by the pool, touching the water with his fingertips, seeing himself on the giant screens, exchanging applause with the crowd. In short, preparing for the succession as in any worthy reign.
The stage could not be more idyllic. At home. In the event where a year ago he broke the last big world record held by his idol – who handed him the world gold that day – with whom he shares a coach (the legendary Bob Bowman), the protégé of the Shark of Baltimore hung his first Olympic gold of these Games, of his career, to become, despite his hometown being Toulouse, the León of Paris. The contrast between the most absolute silence before the starting signal and the explosion of fervor from the very first second of the event was a metaphor for the explosiveness with which the 22-year-old swimmer unleashed himself to clinch the Olympic record set by none other than Phelps, lowering it by almost a second, from 4:03.84 to 4:02.95.
Because Marchand’s display was colossal, surpassing Daiya Sato and the rest of the mortals in the butterfly (54.32) by over half a second, already pulling ahead of the other competitors at the end of the backstroke segment (1:56.76), showcasing his natural force in the breaststroke (3:04.24) and enjoying, already celebrating victory but without stopping for a moment, in a freestyle that plunged the crowd into a frenzied euphoria and unfurled and waved tricolor flags throughout La Défense Arena. 5.67 seconds was what he finished ahead of Tomoyuki Matsushita, silver medalist, and four hundredths more than Carson Foster, who took bronze.
And this is just the beginning. As happens with all eras. The Frenchman’s journey will continue on Tuesday, when he tackles the heats of the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke starting at 11:00, culminating on Thursday with the 200 individual medley. The “¡León, Léon!” will continue to spread and roar around the planet.
Expand
Huske snatches gold from Walsh
Still with excitement unleashed, even crossing paths with Marchand and company on the carpet, the final of the women’s 100 butterfly commenced. And in this case, there was indeed a surprise, and a significant one. The American Torri Huske (55.59) took revenge from the Trials a month ago, where Gretchen Walsh surpassed her by setting the world record for the distance, before doing the same in the Olympic record in Saturday’s semifinals already in Paris. By four hundredths of a second she snatched gold in an enormous final lap, as Huske started in third position, which ultimately went to the silver medalist from Tokyo 2020, Zhang Yufei. Emma McKeon, one of the standout names from those Games, finished sixth in the only individual event she had scheduled in Paris.
Hugo secures eighth place in the final
Capable of anything as he demonstrated five months ago in Doha with his gold in the 200 backstroke and silver in the 100, Hugo did not have the best combinations to progress to the final of the hectometer in these Games. After recording the 14th best time in the morning (53.68), he started from lane 1 in the first semifinal. That is, side lane with no reference other than Chech Miroslav Knedla.
He reached the turn in a discouraging sixth position (25.51) but improved his time from the heats (52.95) and his position to fifth in his semifinal, so he had to wait for the other to know if he would be among the eight chosen. And he will be, this Monday at 21:19 hours, by the two hundredths he placed ahead of Evangelos Makrygiannis, ninth. The surprising aspect is that big names such as Hubert Kos or the reigning world champion and until recently Hugo’s teammate at Cal, Hunter Armstrong, did not qualify.
Expand
Peaty shares silver with Fink
The most unexpected result of the night was in any case the one that arose from the final of the men’s 100 breaststroke. Qin Haiyang dominated in the first 50 meters but collapsed to seventh position (59.50). Just one spot ahead, Arno Kamminga touched the wall. And Adam Peaty, the great returnee, was unable to secure his third consecutive Olympic gold in this distance by two hundredths.
It was snatched against all odds by the Italian Nicolo Martinenghi (59.03). The Briton, and also Nic Fink, who recorded exactly the same time, so they both took the silver podium. Curiously, Peaty repeated a scene very similar to that experienced in Nanterre on Saturday with Caeleb Dressel, emotionally approaching his partner and child.
Popovici, on the path to his first gold
In the semifinals of the 200-meter freestyle, David Popovici (1:44.53) again prevailed authoritatively, almost half a second ahead of Duncan Scott (1:44.94), the reigning Olympic silver medalist, with Luke Hobson and Lukas Maertens immediately in pursuit. The Korean Sunwoo Hwang was left out of the final this Monday starting at 20:30, after the Chinese Pan Zhanle failed to qualify directly from the morning heats.
Expand
Meilutyte and Li Bingjie are out
There will also be notable absences in the final of the women’s 100 breaststroke, as Ruta Meilutyte finished the semifinals with the eleventh best time and Tes Schouten was tenth. Anastasia Gorbenko did not swim them directly, as she had warned early in the afternoon. So the dominators were Tatjana Smith (1:05.00), Mona McSharry, and Lilly King, who, if she repeats the same position in the final, would occupy the same step on the podium as in Tokyo 2020, where she took bronze.
And the 200 frees could not be less, in which Li Bingjie placed tenth (1:56.56), so she will not be able to compete for the medals either, led by the reigning Olympic champion in both this distance and the 400, in the latter case after hanging the gold on Saturday: Ariarne Titmus marked a time of 1:54.64, ahead of Mollie O’Callaghan and Claire Weinstein.
Follow the AS Diary channel on WhatsApp, where you will find all sports in one space: the news of the day, the agenda with the latest updates on the most important sports events, the most outstanding images, the opinions of AS’s best columnists, reports, videos, and a bit of humor from time to time.