{"id":597742,"date":"2024-10-18T13:54:23","date_gmt":"2024-10-18T20:54:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/?p=597742"},"modified":"2024-10-18T16:49:16","modified_gmt":"2024-10-18T23:49:16","slug":"leon-marchand-returns-to-the-top-of-the-podium-after-pretty-amazing-olympics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swimmingworldmagazine.com\/news\/leon-marchand-returns-to-the-top-of-the-podium-after-pretty-amazing-olympics\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Marchand Returns To The Top Of The Podium After “Pretty Amazing” Olympics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leon Marchand Returns To The Top Of The Podium After “Pretty Amazing” Olympics<\/h4>\n

Leon Marchand<\/strong> transcended his sport in Paris as he soared to four gold medals, captivating the sporting world and beyond.<\/p>\n

La Defense Arena was a cauldron of noise before he set foot on poolside, rising to a crescendo each time the Frenchman claimed each of his four titles in the 200 and 400IM, 200 fly and 200 breaststroke.<\/p>\n

Bob Bowman<\/strong>, coach to Marchand, said last month<\/a> that \u201cI think you\u2019ll see in the World Cups that he\u2019ll play with different events and see what happens.”<\/p>\n

Marchand returned to the international pool on Friday at the opening leg of the World Cup in Shanghai, China.<\/p>\n

There he won the 100IM<\/a>, holding off No\u00e8 Ponti\u00a0<\/strong>to touch by the narrowest of margins in 50.65 to 50.66 as he elevated himself to fourth in the all-time rankings.<\/p>\n

Only Caeleb Dressel<\/strong> with his eye-watering 49.28 WR, Vladimir Mozorov<\/strong> (50.26) and Kliment Kolesnikov<\/strong> (50.63) now eclipse Marchand.<\/p>\n

After racing, Marchand told World Aquatics:<\/p>\n

\u201cI enjoyed racing No\u00e8 tonight. The Olympics were pretty amazing for me, I took some time off from that, I got back in the water about a month and a half ago. I don\u2019t really expect a lot of great results. I am just enjoying racing now so it\u2019s cool. I am just trying to have fun.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good time, but I haven\u2019t really swam that event before. It was a really fun race from the beginning. Noe just swam another event 20 minutes ago. I thought it was really exciting to race No\u00e8 Ponti, and it was a really close race. I will race the 100IM event at every stop of the World Cup. I love being able to travel and go overseas to race. We also have two more stops on the World Cup, and I will be enjoying it all.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Of why he wore a Dressel cap, he said: \u201cBecause he\u2019s a legend. I just love that guy. He inspired me a lot and really helped me with my mental health as well. We exchanged caps at the Olympics. I was proud to wear his cap.\u201d<\/p>\n