Léon Marchand finished his European Swimming Championships in style. The day after his title in the 200m butterfly, the Frenchman won the 400m freestyle in Saint-Denis on Sunday, August 16th, securing his second individual gold medal in two days. In his first appearance at this distance in a major championship, the 24-year-old from Toulouse made a strong statement, winning in 3:43.14 , a new French record. Marchand finished ahead of Hungary's Oliver Papai , second in 3:44.46 , and Germany's Lukas Märtens , third in 3:44.57 . This victory was particularly significant as Märtens is the reigning Olympic champion and the world record holder for the event.
Marchand takes control from the very first meters
Unlike the morning heats, during which he had paced himself, Léon Marchand immediately set a blistering pace in the final. The Frenchman took the lead from the very first lengths and never relinquished it. At the halfway point, he passed the 200m mark in 1:49.49 . His particularly efficient underwater phases, especially at each turn, allowed him to maintain and then extend his lead over his main rivals. In the final lengths, while Papai and Märtens tried to close the gap, Marchand continued to widen the gap. He finally touched the wall in 3:43.14, more than a second ahead of his nearest competitor.
Yannick Agnel's French record falls after fifteen years
Beyond the European title, Léon Marchand achieved another historic performance for French swimming. His time of 3:43.14 set a new French record in the 400m freestyle . The previous national record had belonged to Yannick Agnel since 2011. Marchand thus broke a fifteen-year-old record in his first international final at this distance. The performance takes on added significance given the competition in Saint-Denis. Lukas Märtens, the Olympic champion in Paris in 2024, holds the world record in the 400m freestyle. Marchand beat it by more than a second in this European final.
A new discipline at the highest level for Marchand
The result was far from certain before the start. The 400m freestyle is not one of Léon Marchand's signature events; he is better known for the 200m and 400m individual medley, the 200m butterfly, and the 200m breaststroke. The Frenchman even approached these European Championships with a preparation hampered by a right adductor injury sustained at the French Championships in June. This injury had forced him to reduce his European program and, in particular, to withdraw from his two individual medley events. The 400m freestyle was therefore a gamble. Marchand turned it into a continental title and a national record.
Two individual European titles in less than 24 hours
This victory comes the day after Léon Marchand's first individual European title. On Saturday evening, the four-time Paris 2024 Olympic champion won the 200m butterfly in 1:51.72 . In less than 24 hours, Marchand thus won two very different events: the 200m butterfly, the discipline in which he is the Olympic champion, and then the 400m freestyle, which he was experiencing for the first time at this level of competition. Before these two titles, he had also participated in the French 4x200m freestyle relay , with which he won silver. During this relay, he clocked an impressive 1:43.76 on his leg.
A new playing field two years before the Los Angeles Games
This success opens up a new possibility in Léon Marchand's already particularly busy schedule. The 400m freestyle is an Olympic event and will be contested right from the start of the swimming competitions at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. By dominating some of the continent's best specialists in his first major European final and clocking a time of 3:43.14, Marchand has shown that he can now contend for top international rankings in this event. Two years before the next Olympic Games, the Frenchman has thus added another event to an already exceptional repertoire. And in Saint-Denis, in front of the French crowd, he did so in the most spectacular way possible: a European title and a French record in his very first attempt at a major championship.
