Léon Marchand ends the year with another victory, after winning the 100m breaststroke in the long course, Sunday at the Indian Ocean swimming meeting in Saint-Denis de La Réunion. Present in Reunion after a month of vacation, the 22-year-old Frenchman confirmed that he would spend the end-of-year holiday period at home in Toulouse, before flying to Australia, to “two to three months” during which he plans to train with a new coach.
Widely favorite in the competition, the quadruple Olympic gold medalist had already won the 200m breaststroke in 2'10″78 on Friday and the 50m breaststroke on Saturday (27″86) in front of the Reunion public. This time he won in 1'00″07 in this event which brings together local swimmers, others from France, but also from Madagascar and Mauritius.
“I'm happy I made a nice pour“, explained Marchand on the microphone of the local channel IMAZ Press Réunion after the race. “I almost burst at the minute!“, he continued with a smile on his lips, delighted to have found competition for “have fun“. (Sébastien Capogna finished second in 01'01″15). Saying “exhausted“, Léon Marchand had given up at the end of November from the short course World Championships which were organized in mid-December in Budapest, after having won four Olympic gold medals and one bronze (4x100m medley relay) this summer in Paris.
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