French swimming star Léon Marchand claimed his second gold medal of the European Aquatics Championships in Saint-Denis, a suburb north of Paris, on Sunday, producing a commanding performance in the 400m freestyle — an event he rarely contests at the highest level. Clocking 3 minutes 43.14 seconds, the 24-year-old won by a margin of 1.32 seconds over Hungary's Oliver Papai, with Germany's Lukas Martens, the world record holder in the event, taking bronze.
The result was all the more remarkable for its context. Before these championships, Marchand had never raced the 400m freestyle at a major international competition, describing it ahead of the final as "something very exciting but also very mysterious — I'm not sure how to do it." He had qualified fourth-fastest in the morning heats but had forewarned that he would likely go faster in the evening final. True to his word, he led from start to finish. His time equalled the fourth-best performance in the world this year and also broke the longstanding French national record previously held by Yannick Agnel. Competing on a reduced schedule due to a thigh muscle injury sustained at the French national championships, Marchand had limited his individual programme to just two events: the 200m butterfly, which he won on Saturday, and this 400m freestyle.
Marchand, already a seven-time world champion, was one of the defining figures of the 2024 Paris Olympics, where he won four gold medals — in the 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke, 200m individual medley, and 400m individual medley — along with a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay. His latest double gold in Saint-Denis underlines his ability to excel across disciplines even while managing injury.
Elsewhere on the final day of competition, Hungary's Hubert Kos won the men's 200m individual medley in 1:54.24, his third gold of the championships, finishing just two-tenths of a second ahead of Spain's Hugo González. Italy's Simona Quadarella completed a freestyle treble — matching her feat from the 2018 European Championships in Rome — by winning the women's 400m freestyle after surging past her rivals in the final 100 metres. Britain's Keanna MacInnes took gold in the women's 200m butterfly, and Lithuania's Rūta Meilutytė, the 2012 Olympic 100m breaststroke champion, claimed victory in the women's 100m breaststroke.
Marchand's willingness to enter an unfamiliar event while recovering from injury — and then dominate it — speaks to both his extraordinary versatility and the depth of his talent. For a swimmer who remains in recovery, two gold medals in Paris represent a result that few rivals could match at full fitness.