Frenchman Léon Marchand, already crowned Olympic champion in the 400m individual medley for his first participation in the Olympic Games, qualified for the finals of the 200m butterfly and the 200m breaststroke on the same evening this Tuesday, July 30 at La Défense Arena. A feat that no other swimmer had ever achieved at the Olympic Games. He will try to achieve a historic double tomorrow evening, at the same time as Maxime Grousset who made it to the final of the 100m freestyle.
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From our special correspondent at La Défense Arena,
Léon Marchand has a date with history in less than 24 hours. After capturing his first Olympic title on July 28 by dominating the final of the 400m individual medley, the Frenchman ran four races this Tuesday in the Olympic pool at La Défense Arena to reach the finals of the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, each scheduled for Wednesday evening.
It was the biggest challenge for the 22-year-old from Toulouse during these 2024 Olympic Games: to perform in two races scheduled back-to-back, just one hour apart, and achieve a feat that even American swimming legend Michael Phelps had never dared to achieve in five participations in the Olympic Games. It’s a very big challenge, probably bigger than any challenge Michael Phelps has had to face, because you have to do two races, three times in a row (heats, semis and finals). It’s very difficult. “, explained recently Bob Bowman, the Frenchman’s coach, who was also Phelps’ coach.
But late in the morning in the Nanterre Olympic pool, Marchand showed once again that he was cut out for this kind of moment. He first qualified for the semi-final of the 200m butterfly by posting the sixth best time in the series (1’55”26). Then he did it again two hours later by posting the third best time in the 200m breaststroke (2’09”55). An already impressive sequence.
Marchand demonstrates in his two semi-finals
Tonight, the task was even more complicated. The semi-finals of each distance were separated by only one hour (20:44 for the 200m butterfly and 21:59 for the 200m breaststroke) and the Frenchman could not afford the luxury of saving himself to succeed in validating his place in the two consecutive finals.
For his first Games, he took on the first part of his challenge with authority. In the semi-final of the 200m butterfly, Marchand first set the second best time (1’53”50), easing off in the final metres, to finish just behind the Olympic champion and Hungarian world record holder Kristof Milak (1’52”72), who will be his main opponent in the pool tomorrow evening. Then he came back an hour later to put on another demonstration in the 200m breaststroke, where he dominated the proceedings to set the best time (2’08”11) with great serenity.
” It should be easier. I could go all out in both races. But four races (in one day) is a lot for my system, so I’ll have to sleep a lot, eat a lot and I’ll be ready. “, he assured. Tomorrow evening, the 22-year-old swimmer will have a little more recovery time, since the butterfly final is scheduled for 8:37 p.m., while the breaststroke final will begin at 10:31 p.m.
Read also2024 Olympics: Léon Marchand launches his golden harvest with a first Olympic title
Maxime Grousset in the 100m freestyle final
For the other Frenchmen on deck tonight at La Défense Arena, things were much trickier. Only Maxime Grousset managed to qualify for the 100m freestyle final by posting the 4th best time (47’63), behind the Australian Kyle Chalmers and the Hungarian Nandor Nemeth in his semi-final and after leading the race for a long time. He will swim to try to win a medal on Wednesday at 10:39pm.
In the 100m backstroke, the French Emma Terebo (59’40) and Beryl Gastaldello (59’80) had to settle for the last two places in their final, dominated by the Australian Kaylee McKeown (57’33) with the Olympic record to her name. In the 100m freestyle, Marie Wattel was also unable to do anything despite her good time (53’38) and will not see the final.
The same goes for David Aubry in the 800m freestyle, who finished far from the podium with a 5th place (7’43”59) tied with the German Sven Schwarz. Note that the Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi was in the race for a long time before dropping his pace just before the finish to grab 4th place (7’42”83).
The French relay runners in the final of the 4x200m freestyle (Amazigh Yebba, Hadrien Salvan, Yann Le Goff and Roman Fuchs) were also no match for the dominance of the British, who delivered a great battle to the Americans and Australians. The Blues dropped back at the end to finish in 5th place (7’04”80).
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