Léon Marchand runs away with 400 IM gold to the joy of French fans

NANTERRE, France — French swimmer Léon Marchand nearly brought down Paris La Défense Arena on Sunday night with a standout gold medal-winning performance. The rowdy venue erupted in celebration after the 22-year-old star won the men’s 400-meter individual medley for his first medal of the Paris Olympics, finishing the grueling event with a time of 4:02.95, an Olympic record.

Marchand was less than a half-second off his 4:02.50 world record time from the 2023 world championships, but that hardly matters when you're an Olympic gold medalist as your country hosts. A two-time Olympian, he finished sixth in the event at the 2021 Tokyo Games.

American first-time Olympian Carson Foster finished with a bronze in third, 5.71 seconds behind Marchand. Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita won silver, 5.67 seconds back.

Foster will have another shot at a medal in the men’s 200-meter IM, but he’ll still likely have to face Marchand again. The pair train together under coach Bob Bowman with the Texas Longhorns pro group. Marchand recently turned pro after three seasons with Arizona State, where he was a three-time Pac-12 Men's Swimmer of the Year.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Léon Marchand runs away with 400 IM gold to the joy of French fans