NANTERRE, France — Frenchman Léon Marchand electrified a partisan crowd Sunday with an Olympic record time in the swimming 400-meter individual medley before American Torri Huske and Italian Nicolo Martinenghi also won their first gold medals.
A capacity crowd filled Paris La Défense Arena, with thousands of fans decked out in bleu, blanc et rouge in hope of crowning a new national hero. Marchand did not disappoint.
His time of 4:02.95 broke the Olympic record of all-time great Michael Phelps and fell just short of the world record held by Marchand himself.
“I think it’s a dream for every one of us,” he told NBC, wearing the gold around his neck. “I got the chance to do it today. That was amazing. I don’t know how to describe it.”
About 13 minutes before the race started, fans spontaneously broke out in song with “La Marseillaise” and chanted “Léon, Léon, Léon!”
And once the race started, the deafening cheers got through to Marchand. As he pulled away from the field in the breaststroke, fans rhythmically cheered each time his head popped out of the water.
“The breaststroke was insane, because I could hear whole stadium, so that was amazing to do,” said Marchand, who won France’s first swimming gold since 2012.
Japan’s Tomoyuki Matsushita, who stayed close to Marchand during the butterfly, took silver, and Cincinnati native Carson Foster secured bronze.
Marchand, 22, who swam at Arizona State under the guidance of Phelps’ coach, Bob Bowman, isn’t done yet. He’s expected to compete in the 200 IM, the 200 butterfly and the 200 breaststroke later in these Games.
Later in the evening, Huske, of Arlington, Virginia, won the women’s 100-meter butterfly, erasing heartbreak from three years ago when she finished in fourth place by a hundredth of a second.
“Like you said, I just missed the podium last time by a hundredth, so I’m so thankful to be here, and to do it with Gretchen is just amazing,” Huske said. “I’ve had a long road, but I have a lot of support, and I’m so thankful for all of it.”
She went 1-2 with fellow American Gretchen Walsh as China’s Zhang Yufei won bronze.
“I feel like I’m in shock right now,” Huske said. “Like I don’t even know how to process it, like I feel like I’m going to cry but, like, I’m also smiling. It’s really surreal.”
Before “The Star-Spangled Banner” played and the American flag was raised, Huske made sure Walsh joined her on the podium’s top step. They joyously clasped and raised hands moments after “home of the brave.”
Walsh said there was pressure on her as both the world and Olympic record holder in the event.
“Seeing the one-two up there, though, was amazing. I’m so proud of Torri, and I’m proud of myself,” she said. “I think that was what America needed and wanted, and it was a really special moment that we shared out there on the podium.”
In the men’s 100 breaststroke, American Nic Fink and Great Britain’s Adam Peaty tied for silver as Martinenghi took gold.
Fink finished fifth in the 200 breaststroke in Tokyo and still has the sweatsuit he was hoping to wear to the podium.
“One of my least favorite feelings was bringing podium sweats and never getting a chance to wear them, so that was definitely a bummer in Tokyo,” he said after he won silver Sunday. “The fact that I was able to make that next step here is a lot more fun.”
Fink, who has a master’s degree in electrical and computer engineering from Georgia Tech, works a full-time job while training for the Olympics. He said the 9-to-5 routine helps him be “well rounded” and “balanced.”
At the advanced swimming age of 31, Fink wouldn’t rule out another attempt at glory in Los Angeles in 2028.
“As for my future, you know, I could’ve probably closed the door a couple of times on my career, and it’s only gotten better and better,” Fink said. “So I don’t want to say anything definitive. And you know, L.A. is four years away, but a home Olympics would be pretty cool. So we’ll see.”