France’s Leon Marchand storms to second gold of European championships

PARIS – French swimming star Leon Marchand powered to his second gold of the European championships in Paris on Aug 16, easing to victory in the 400m freestyle – an event he rarely races.

Clocking 3min 43.14sec, he won by a margin of 1.32 seconds over Hungary’s Oliver Papai. The bronze went to Germany’s Lukas Martens, the world-record holder.

Four-time Olympic champion Marchand had already won gold in the 200m butterfly final in Paris.

“It was a new race for me, so I really enjoyed it,” said the 24-year-old, who then helped France to bronze in the men’s 4x100m medley relay later on Aug 16.

He also won a silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay earlier in the week.

“Basically, I tried to keep my blinders on for the first 200m,” he said. “Then I realised the field was going to come back strong, so that’s when I gradually started kicking harder.

“I could see I was well ahead, and the crowd cheering was really spurring me on, so I fed off that energy. The last 25m were a bit of a struggle, though.

“I think there are plenty of things I can improve, but being European champion in the 400m freestyle, I couldn’t ask for much more.”

Marchand was one of the stars of the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning gold in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, as well as the 200m individual medley and the 400m medley. He also took a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. The Frenchman is racing a reduced schedule at the European meet as he continues to recover from a thigh injury.

Earlier, Hungarian Hubert Kos won the men’s 200m individual medley title in the absence of Marchand for his third gold of the championships.

He completed the race in 1:54.24 for his third gold in Paris after the 200m backstroke and men’s 100m freestyle relay.

For the 23-year-old, it was also his third European gold medal in the event, following victories in 2022 and 2024.

Kos built a significant lead during the backstroke leg before seeing Spain’s Hugo Gonzalez charge towards him, but held firm in the final metres to secure the win.

He finished two-tenths of a second ahead of the Spaniard, while 18-year-old Russian Mikhail Shcherbakov, competing under a neutral flag, took the bronze.

Golden finale for Britain

Britain won two more gold medals on the final night of competition to finish top of the medals table with eight golds and 14 medals in total.

Keanna Macinnes won the 200m butterfly and then helped the Britons seal the women’s 4x100m medley relay title ahead of Italy.

Italian star Sara Curtis, who turns 20 on Aug 19, got her country off to a blistering start, but an exceptional finish by Freya Colbert gave Britain the spoils.

Italy were second with 20 medals, of which six were gold.

Simona Quadarella finished in style for the Italians by winning the women’s 400m freestyle final, just days after securing titles in the 800m and 1,500m events.

After holding third place for much of the race, Quadarella (4:01.74) surged ahead in the final 100m to see off Germans Isabel Gose and Maya Werner.

This is the third time the 27-year-old has achieved the 400m, 800m and 1,500m freestyle treble at the European championships, after doing so in 2018 and 2021 as well. She also holds three long-course world titles and an Olympic bronze medal, won in the 800m at the Tokyo Games in 2021.

Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte claimed gold in the women’s 100m breaststroke. Macinnes was well ahead of the European record pace for much of the race, but lost ground on the final length to clock 2:05.90.

Meilutyte, the Olympic 100m breaststroke champion in 2012, won the European 50m breaststroke for the third time in a time of 29.93sec.

Defending champion Apostolos Christou of Greece retained his 100m backstroke gold as 19-year-old Ukrainian Nikita Sheremet won his first title in the men’s 50m freestyle on the final day of competition. AFP