15,000 people sang La Marseillaise at the La Defense Arena in celebration of Leon Marchand’s 400m IM gold medal as the French public provided a memorable moment for the sport of swimming that will be talked about for generations.

Men’s 400m IM - Leon Marchand and the greatest night of French swimming history

Perhaps it was the most anticipated swimming event of the entire Paris Olympics. With the dominance Leon Marchand showed the last two years in the IM events, all roads led to what he could do in front of the French people in the biggest show on Earth at the 2024 Paris Olympics.

Lines to get into the swimming venue today stretched over a kilometer. The decibel level in the heats this morning reached almost a maximum when Marchand swam. When the pool cleared for warm-ups 15 minutes before the session began, chants of “Leon” rained out from all corners of the La Defense Arena.

The moment mattered. This night mattered. And Leon Marchand, who got a phone call from French President Emmanuel Macron afterwards, gave the French public something to be proud of when he won the gold medal.

“I had goosebumps, I felt really proud to be myself and to also be French tonight,” Marchand said in his press conference. “It was an amazing time for me, I was really living in the moment.”

From the moment he dove into the pool, the 22-year-old coached by Bob Bowman led, and for four minutes and two seconds, the La Defense Arena was the happiest place on Earth.

“It was awesome,” bronze medalist Carson Foster said of the environment. “Our US trials were held in a football stadium and the crowd was pretty loud but not as loud as that was. It was super cool. Everyone was cheering for Leon, and rightfully so. It was an awesome experience and an honour to swim next to him.”

"The atmosphere was amazing, I don't know how to explain it,” Marchand said. “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 won his first career Olympic gold medal at 4:02.95, breaking yet another Michael Phelps record in the process, taking down the legend’s 4:03.84 from the Beijing 2008 Olympics.

"I'm not sure there's been anything like this,” Bowman said. “It was amazing, really, to have that home-team energy. It was crazy. I feel like it's something I haven't really seen in a meet."

It was a dominating performance from the word ‘go,’ leaving the rest of the field fighting for silver.

Last year’s World juniors champ Tomoyuki Matsushita of Japan moved from fifth at the 300 meter mark to win the silver at 4:08.62. Matsushita, coached by Hiromasa Hirai, won Japan’s fourth Olympic medal in the men’s 400m IM in the last four Olympics.

For the tenth straight Olympics, the United States was represented on the podium in the men’s 400m IM, as Carson Foster split 27.7 on the last 50m to hold his spot in the top three. Foster won his first Olympic medal at age 22.

Foster, coached by Eddie Reese and Wyatt Collins at the University of Texas, had long been a promising age group swimmer in the United States, making his first World Juniors team in 2017 at age 15. But the Olympics eluded him in 2021, and since then he had worked on perfecting the weak points of his races, which were the breaststroke and freestyle legs.

On Sunday night, two tenths separated bronze from fourth, and Foster was able to get on the wall at 4:08.66, running down Great Britain’s Max Litchfield (4:08.85), who finished fourth for the third straight Olympics.

"I've given absolutely everything - emotionally, mentally, physically,” Litchfield said. “I've given a (personal) best time. It's tough to come out the wrong side of it again.

"I don't know. It's just tough. I've given it absolutely everything. I've got to be proud, I think. Fourth place in three Olympics on the trot. Not many people can say that. It's on the wrong side of it, but it's sport, it's life."

Japan’s Daiya Seto, who was with Marchand, relatively, for 200 meters and turned third at 300m, finished seventh at 4:11.78.

Italy’s Alberto Razzetti (4:09.38), New Zealand’s Lewis Clareburt (4:10.44), and Germany’s Cedric Buessing (4:17.16) also competed in the Olympic final.

Women’s 100m Butterfly - The Torri Huske Redemption

Three years ago in Tokyo, American Torri Huske was leading the 100m butterfly final for about 85 meters. 15 meters from greatness, she kept her head down on the last four strokes, but wound up in fourth - 0.01 seconds from a podium finish.

Flash forward to Sunday night in Paris, and Huske got her redemption - gold at 55.59, sharing the podium with American teammate Gretchen Walsh (55.63).

It was a moment of redemption, not only for what happened in Tokyo, but also after she was the bronze medalist at the World Championships last year.

“Last time I missed a podium by 1/100 of a second,” Huske said. “That was devastating, but I think that it really fuelled me, and I think that did make me better. The same goes for last year. I had a really rough summer last year, and my races weren’t the best races I could put together. It was a really hard road, but I had an amazing support system.

“I have my family to thank and all my friends and the amazing people at Stanford and my teammates and my coaches. They pushed me every single day. And I also had the entire team USA behind my back, and I was racing next to Gretchen, so I had a lot of good things going for me.”

Walsh took the race out hard, as she was under her world record pace at 50 meters. Huske, two tenths behind her, stayed underwater and stayed on Walsh’s hip. With 15 meters to go, Huske went in to overdrive, and it was the opposite of her finish in Tokyo.

Huske, coached by Greg Meehan at Stanford University, won her first individual Olympic medal after winning the World title in 2022 and silver in last night’s 4x100m freestyle.

Walsh, coached by Todd DeSorbo at the University of Virginia, sung the Star Spangled Banner on the podium with Huske, as she celebrated her first individual Olympic medal as well.

“I think we all can attest to how close that was, and it was a great race,” Walsh said. “And I was just so happy to even get top three, get a medal at my first ever Olympics. And it was such a proud moment as her (Torri HUSKE's) teammate on Team USA. So I'm really proud of everyone on the podium tonight, and I'm proud of myself as well.”

 

China’s Zhang Yufei, who won the World title in 2023, won the bronze at 56.21, holding off the charge of 2024 World champ Angelina Kohler (56.42) of Germany, and defending Olympic champion Maggie Mac Neil (56.44) of Canada.

Zhang, coached by Cui Dengrong, won her sixth career Olympic medal after she won bronze in last night’s 4x100m freestyle. Zhang was the World champion last year and the defending Olympic silver medalist, but could not get past the two Americans.

“I feel it was a bit slow,” Zhang said. “But I was quite happy about the bronze medal. Earlier in the training I got quite a good score. I feel at least with the first half of the race I performed good. I’m quite satisfied. With regards to Olympic gold, it is also based on luck. A lot of people work hard but there is only one Olympic champion.” 

Australia’s Emma McKeon (56.93) who won bronze in Tokyo, Japan’s Mizuki Hirai (57.19), and Sweden’s Louise Hansson (57.34) also swam in the Olympic final.

Men’s 100m Breaststroke - Nicolo Martinenghi stuns, denies Adam Peaty the elusive third straight

It wasn’t the result anyone expected. With five of the all-time top ten in one race, the finish was expected to go any number of ways. Leading into the race, Great Britain’s Adam Peaty was going for his third straight Olympic gold medal, joining the exclusive club of three-time winners that only four people have joined. His biggest adversary was China’s Qin Haiyang, last year’s World champ and the dominator of 2023.

Two of the last three World champs - Nic Fink of the United States, and Nicolo Martinenghi of Italy were expected to challenge, as was defending silver medalist Arno Kamminga of the Netherlands.

But Peaty was most everyone’s pick to win the gold medal for the third time.

At 50 meters, Qin had the lead with Peaty in tow. By 65 meters, Peaty looked on his way to history, but Martinenghi and Fink were gaining at 75. By the finish, the capacity crowd at the La Defense Arena held their collective breath.

With all eyes on Peaty, it wasn’t his block or Qin’s that lit up first, it was Nicolo Martinenghi.

The scoreboard read - Martinenghi, 59.03; Peaty and Fink in a dead heat at 59.05. Qin faded to seventh at 59.50.

Martinenghi, coached by Marco Pedoja in Rome, won Italy’s second gold medal in the 100m breaststroke after Domenico Fioravanti won in Sydney 2000.

"Becoming Olympic champion today is a dream come true, next to Adam, who is one of my idols. I grew (up) with Adam.

"In front of my girlfriend, my family, my friends, my teammates, that's insane. It’s the best moment of my life."

Peaty, coached by Mel Marshall, made his third straight podium at the Olympics, his sixth career medal. Peaty was emotional in his press conference reminiscing on his journey.

“I’ve been so grateful to win so many medals,” Peaty said. “I’ve been so dominant and have such performances as first man to go 57 and first man to go 56, but I am so happy to be here with this medal tonight. It has challenged me in 1000 ways. My whole perspective on life and abilities have changed so much in the last three years because of my son and I don’t regret one single day.

"For me, I gave my best performance with the cards I’ve been dealt. It could have gone a number of ways. I’m not going to define my career in the terms of the ups and the downs by a medal. I’m just so happy to be among these incredible athletes and performances. With the race I was in with Arno and Qin in the last 15 meters, I felt like I had it, but that’s sport and I think that’s going to throw you up and down, and we’ve all been through it. I’m just happy that I got the win and it went to an incredible guy.”

Peaty was gracious in defeat as he fought back tears talking about Martinenghi in his press conference.

“The man who was meant to win it has won it and I am so happy for Nicolo. I remember him coming through at World Juniors and thinking ‘this boy is going to be a bit of trouble.’

“I’m so happy for you tomorrow morning because you get to look at that gold medal because I know how that feels in my heart and it couldn’t have gone to a better guy. It’s a great race as well with Nic, so there’s lots to debrief on. We will try to get back to full health now and see what we can do on the relays. I gave it my absolute best and that is it.

Fink, coached by Greg Rhodenbaugh, won his first career Olympic medal at age 31, erasing the frustration of missing the podium in the 200m breaststroke in Tokyo three years ago.

"In Tokyo I brought my podium sweats and I didn't get a chance to wear them, which is not a fun feeling in sport,” Fink said. “So to place at all, and to share medals, it's all great. It doesn't matter what medal I got, and who I'm sharing it with, as long as I get to be on the podium bringing hardware to Team USA."

Germany’s Melvin Imoudu (59.11) and Lucas Matzerath (59.30) finished fourth and fifth, while the Dutch duo of Kamminga (59.32) and Caspar Corbeau (59.98) finished sixth and eighth.

Semis Wrap

Men’s 200m Freestyle

Romania’s David Popovici took one step closer to Olympic glory as the 19-year-old, who has been destined for greatness since swimming the fastest 200m freestyle in 13 years in 2022, is the top seed after the semis at 1:44.53.

Great Britain’s Duncan Scott is his biggest challenger as the second seed and defending Olympic silver medalist as he was 1:44.94 in the semis. Scott will be looking to keep the gold medal in Great Britain after Tom Dean won three years ago in Tokyo.

United States’s Luke Hobson is the third seed and an outside shot for an upset tomorrow at 1:45.19, while last night’s 400m champ Lukas Martens is fourth at 1:45.36.

Australia’s Maximilian Giuliani (1:45.37) advanced, along with Lithuania’s Danas Rapsys (1:45.48), last year’s World champ Matthew Richards (1:45.63) of Great Britain and Japan’s Katsuhiro Matsumoto (1:45.88).

Notably, 2024 World champ and one of the pre-race favorites Hwang Sun-woo of Korea missed the final in ninth at 1:45.92.

Women’s 100m Breaststroke

South Africa’s Tatjana Smith powered through the semi-finals on Sunday night to grab the top seed for tomorrow’s final at 1:05.00 despite jamming her finish. She is aiming for her third career Olympic medal after she won gold in the 200m and silver in the 100m three years ago in Tokyo under her maiden name Tatjana Schoenmaker.

Ireland’s Mona Mc Sharry has a chance to make history for her nation with its first Olympic medal since 1996 as she is the second seed at 1:05.51.

2016 gold medalist Lilly King is the third seed at 1:05.64 as she is aiming for her third straight podium appearance after gold in Rio and bronze in Tokyo.

China’s Tang Qianting, who was the World champ earlier this year and swam 1:04 in April, is the fourth seed at 1:05.83.

Alina Zmushka (1:05.93), Great Britain’s Angharad Evans (1:05.99), Italy’s Benedetta Pilato (1:06.12), and Estonia’s Eneli Jefimova (1:06.23) also qualified for the Olympic final.

Notably, Lithuania’s Ruta Meilutyte, who won gold back in London 2012 and at last year’s World Championships, finished 11th at 1:06.89.

Men’s 100m Backstroke

China’s Xu Jiayu gave the world record a scare in the semis, turning under pace at 50 meters as he will hold lane four in tomorrow’s final after swimming 52.02 on Sunday night.

The rest of the field was jumbled up behind him as world record holder Thomas Ceccon won the first semi at 52.58 ahead of France’s Yohann Ndoye-Brouard (52.63) hearing the raucous roars from the Paris crowd.

South Africa’s Pieter Coetze qualified in his first Olympic final as he broke the African record at 52.63.

2016 gold medalist Ryan Murphy (52.72) also advanced in fifth as he is looking for his third straight podium appearance as well to get his gold medal back after winning bronze in Tokyo 2020.

Greece’s Apostolos Christou (52.77) will be on the lookout for Greece’s first Olympic swimming medal since 1896 as the sixth seed. Great Britain’s Oliver Morgan (52.85) and Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez (52.95) also qualified for the final.

Women’s 200m Freestyle

Fresh off of winning the 400m last night, defending Olympic champ Ariarne Titmus (1:54.64) advanced through to tomorrow’s final ahead of her St. Peters Western training mate Mollie O’Callaghan (1:54.70) as the two fastest all-time will hold the middle lanes in tomorrow’s final.

Titmus is the defending champion and could be the first person to ever win the 200m freestyle twice at the Olympics if she can touch first after four lengths of the pool.

United States’s Claire Weinstein showed out well in her first Olympics at age 17 as she will be the third seed for tomorrow at 1:55.24 ahead of 2024 World champ Siobhan Haughey (1:55.51) for Hong Kong, China, and 2022 World champ Yang Junxuan (1:55.90) of China.

Czechia’s Barbora Seemanova (1:56.06) advanced to the final in sixth ahead of New Zealand’s Erika Fairweather (1:56.31) and Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey (1:56.37).