With a lively crowd cheering him on, Léon Marchand started his home Olympics by achieving the fastest time in the preliminaries of the 400-meter individual medley on Sunday.
The 22-year-old Marchand led his heat with a time of 4 minutes, 8.30 seconds, as around 15,000 fans at La Defense Arena cheered with every stroke.
“It was a crazy thing,” Marchand said through a translator. “It was beyond what I expected. Everybody was shouting my name.”
Marchand’s performance was strong and relaxed. He is often compared to Michael Phelps and is coached by American Bob Bowman, who also coached Phelps to his 23 Olympic gold medals.
Marchand is aiming for his first gold medal and is a top contender for the final later in the day.
He finished more than a second ahead of Britain’s Max Litchfield (4:09.51), with Japan’s Daiya Seto (4:10.92) and American Carson Foster (4:11.07) also trailing behind.
The big question for the final is whether Marchand can break his own world record of 4:02.50, set at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, which had previously been held by Phelps for 15 years.
“I wanted to save my energy,” he said. “I’ve been through one (race), so I can kind of take a breath.”
Defending Olympic champion, 30-year-old Chase Kalisz of the U.S., did not make it to the final, finishing with the 11th-fastest time (4:13.36).
