Marchand Mania

When France’s Leon Marchand stepped up onto the blocks for his final individual swim on night seven of competition, any result would still have the 22 year-old leaving Paris as France’s most successful Olympic swimmer of all-time. Nothing would be able to take away from the enormity of what ‘Le Roi Leon’ has achieved over this past week. But as we have learnt over the last few nights at Paris La Defense Arena, when Leon races, he delivers, and in the Men’s 200m Individual Medley, it was another gold medal and Olympic record. Marchand has had such an impact on his home nation this week that even French President Emmanuel Macron was in the crowd and jumping out of his seat in excitement as Leon charged home over the final lap. The win makes it four gold medals and four Olympic records – enough to get the locals to start considering changing the name of the venue to Leon Marchand Arena. And the best bit about Friday night’s race, he just missed Ryan Lochte’s World Record by 0.06 seconds, meaning the Frenchman will still be hungry come the next World Championships in twelve months’ time.

Queen Sarah reigns supreme

There is no question now that Sarah Sjoestroem is the best female sprinter the world has seen. The one blemish on a career that includes 14 individual World Championships gold medals, 4 short course world titles, and 26 European Championships golds across both formats – was that the Swedish legend had just a sole Olympic gold medal to her name. Enter Sarah Sjoestroem version 2024. Women’s 100m Freestyle Olympic champion on night five. Women’s 50m Freestyle Olympic champion on night nine. There is no doubt now that this three-time Olympic champion is the greatest female sprinter of all-time.

Bobby saves the best for last

If we hadn’t already seen some of the best racing at an Olympic Games, the United States of America’s Bobby Finke made sure the ninth and final night ended with a bang. In the last individual race of the Paris games, 24 year-old Finke delivered the second individual world record of the week in the final of the Men’s 1500m Freestyle. Finke led from the first turn in the thirty-lap race, and despite a challenge from Italy’s Gregorio Paltrinieri over the final third, he powered ahead over the last fifty-meters to touch in 14:30.67. The former world record of 14:31.02 was set by the People’s Republic of China’s Sun Yang exactly twelve years ago to the day.

McEvoy completes the assignment

Australia’s Cameron McEvoy has basically written a thesis on sprint freestyle over the past eighteen months with his revolutionary take on training. And if Australia’s first-ever world title in the Men’s 50m Freestyle at Fukuoka 2023 was the introduction, then his gold medal on night seven at Paris 2024 was the conclusion. For a swimmer who placed 29th in this event at Tokyo 2020, it has been nothing short of remarkable that an unconventional, swimmer-driven training program, has delivered a gold medal in the fastest race on the program. It’s an A+ from us.

Kaylee becomes an Australian legend

Thorpe, Fraser, Perkins & Gould are all household names ‘down under’, but none were able to do in their careers what Kaylee McKeown achieved on night seven. Her win in the Women’s 200m Backstroke now places her as the standalone greatest Australian Olympic swimmer with four individual gold medals. She also draws level with Inge de Brujin, Janet Evans, Yana Klochkova, and Kristin Otto, as four-time individual Olympic champions, behind Katie Ledecky (eight) and Krisztina Egerszegi (five). While Paris La Defense Arena has been overcome with Marchand mania, we are assured that on the other side of the world in the land of the green & gold, it has well and truly been McKeown mania.

Canada has a moment

Two races into night eight of competition and Team Canada was having a moment. Josh Liendo and Ilya Kharun finished second and third respectively in the Men’s 100m Butterfly. It was the first time ever that two Canadian men had shared a podium at an Olympic swimming pool. Kharun’s bronze medal, his second of Paris 2024, also made him the first male Canadian swimmer to win two individual medals at a single Olympic Games since 1996. If that hadn’t already brought the maple leaf flags out in full force at Paris La Defence Arena, then the Summer McIntosh show did.  The 17 year-old became just the fifteenth swimmer in history to win three gold medals at a single games and her come-from-behind win in the Women’s 200m Individual Medley was as gutsy as they come. What Leon is doing on the men’s side of the program, McIntosh is matching on the women’s side. What a racer. What an athlete. And she’s not even an adult yet. Bring on LA 2028!

Ledecky becomes an immortal

She had to work hard for it, but Katie Ledecky managed to hold off both Ariarne Titmus and teammate Paige Madden to claim her eighth individual Olympic gold medal in the Women’s 800m Freestyle. She is now three gold medals clear of the next best woman, made even more impressive by winning the 800m Freestyle for an unprecedented fourth time. Surely we will never see anyone as dominant in the sport for as long as she has been. And can we dare to dream about a farewell home Olympics in 2028? It’s just four short years away Katie!