Marchand wins his first race since the Olympics

Aurélie Sacchelli, Media365, published on Friday October 18, 2024 at 3:06 p.m.

For his very first competition since his triumph at the Paris Olympic Games, Léon Marchand won the 100m medley final at the Shanghai Short Course World Cup.

Winning return for Léon Marchand! No one doubted it, but the four-time Olympic champion did not miss his return to competition this Friday in Shanghai, during a stage of the short course World Cup. More accustomed to 25-yard (22.8m) pools than 25m pools since he left to train in the United States three years ago, the Toulouse native quickly got his bearings. The French swimming star, in high demand after the Olympics following his four triumphs in the swimming pool at the Paris La Défense Arena, resumed training on September 16, at his home in Toulouse. And it’s already paying off! Competing in the 100m medley, an event he had not competed in since December 2019 (in 54.03 at the time), an eternity for him, Léon Marchand won his series and the final. In the morning, he set the best time in the heats in 51″65, and a few hours later, in the final, he won in 50″65. But it was not necessarily a walk in the park, because the Swiss Noé Ponti (23 years old) pushed him to his limits, failing only a hundredth of the Frenchman at the end of the last swim, the crawl. The Briton Duncan Scott took third place, 49 hundredths behind the Frenchman.

A very busy schedule for Marchand

This 100m medley was only the first of Léon Marchand’s four events in Shanghai. He will line up on Saturday in the 100m freestyle (another race not being his specialty since he has not competed in it since March 2019, in the long course, in a time of 51″27) and in the 200m medley and Sunday in the 200m breaststroke. The Toulousain will then head to South Korea, for a big program of races next week: 100m breaststroke and 100 medley on Thursday, 100m freestyle and 200m medley on Friday, and 200m freestyle, 400m medley and 200m breaststroke SATURDAY ! Surfing on your Olympic form while clearing your mind with new events, this is Léon Marchand’s recipe for prolonging the pleasure until the end of the year. Objective: win everything at the World Championships in Budapest in mid-December!