NANTERRE – With a boisterous crowd cheering him on, Léon Marchand began his home Olympics by cruising to the fastest time in the preliminaries of the 400-meter individual medley Sunday.
The 22-year-old Marchand pulled away in his heat to touch in 4 minutes, 8.30 seconds, with some 15,000 fans at La Defense Arena chanting on every stroke.
It was a comfortable performance for the French phenomenon, who has been compared to Michael Phelps and is guided by the same coach, American Bob Bowman, who was with Phelps for his staggering 23 Olympic gold medals.
Marchand is looking for his first gold, and he’ll be a heavy favorite in the evening final. He was more than a second ahead of Britain’s Max Litchfield (4:09.51), who was followed by Japan’s Daiya Seto (4:10.92) and American Carson Foster (4:11.07).
The big question going into the final: Can Marchand take down his own world record of 4:02.50? He claimed that mark at last year’s world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing a record held by Phelps for 15 years.
The defending Olympic champion, 30-year-old Chase Kalisz of the U.S., failed to advance to the final after managing just the 11th-fastest time (4:13.36).
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