France’s Leon Marchand Shines While Team USA Tops the 2024 Olympic Medal Count

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France’s Leon Marchand has been the best in the world swimming the 400-meter individual medley over the past few years. He the World Championships in that event in 2022 and 2023 and holds the world record.

He can now add Olympic gold to his collection after obliterating the competition at La Defense Arena on Sunday. He also broke Michael Phelps’ Olympic record with a time of 4:02.95.

Before the event favorite was even announced, the home crowd was chanting his name. Once he was in the pool, he used it to his advantage and the competition didn’t stand a chance.

Leon Marchand Wins 400m IM
NANTERRE, FRANCE – JULY 28: Gold medalist Leon Marchand of Team France (C), silver medalist Tomoyuki Matsushita of Team Japan (L) and bronze medalist Carson Foster of Team USA (R) pose on the podium during…


Quinn Rooney/Getty Images

“The atmosphere was amazing, I don’t know how to explain it. I had goosebumps before, and during the race too. On the breaststroke section, I could hear everyone just cheering for me. That was special and winning today was really amazing for me,” Marchand said after the swim.

The 22-year-old Frenchman, who swam collegiately at Arizona State, won by six seconds. He has three more opportunities to add to his medal collection in the 200 IM, 200m butterfly, and 200m breaststroke later this week.

At the end of Day 2, the United States of America stands alone atop of the medal count with 12 – three gold, six silver, and three bronze. Japan and Australia are ahead of Team USA in first-place finishes with four gold medals each.

Haley Batten rode in American Olympic history with her second-place finish in the cross-country mountain bike event Sunday at Elancourt Hill, just outside of Paris. It was the best finish ever by an American rider.

She was also fined 500 Swiss francs, or about $565, for “failure to respect the instructions of the race organization or commissaries,” after riding through a lane dedicated to taking on food and drink or stopping for mechanical problems.

The fine didn’t matter to Batten who finished ninth at the Tokyo games three years ago.

“I knew before Tokyo that this was the race I was focusing on,” she said. “I’ve known for a long time that I could be good here and Tokyo was — I wanted to be on the podium there, but I wasn’t quite ready to be honest. I prepared much better to be the best I’ve ever been. For me, preparation has been in the details, studying and building every single year.”

The 25-year-old from Park City, Utah, also overcame some adversity during the race. She punctured a tire but was fortunate to be near the U.S. team mechanics, who quickly changed it and got her back in the race.

Carson Foster took home a bronze medal in the 400-meter IM.

The Team USA swimmer touched the wall with a time of 4:08.66. He was only four one-hundredths of a second four one-hundredths of a second behind silver medalist Matsushita Tomoyuki of Japan.

It was Foster’s first Olympic medal. The 22-year-old swam a strong race, staying in the top three the entire time and even touching the wall in second place at the 300-meter mark. He just needed another inch or so to finish in second.

The women’s 100-meter butterfly final featured an American gold and silver medal.

Torri Huske edged out teammate Gretchen Walsh by four-hundredths of a second to complete a dramatic Olympic final. Huske completed her redemption race three years after being out-touched for a bronze medal in Tokyo.

It marked the first time Team USA had gone 1-2 in the women’s 100-meter fly since 1984 as Walsh won silver ahead of Chinese swimmer Zhang Yufei.

“I feel like there was a lot of pressure on me,” Walsh said. “It was definitely a fight to the finish and seeing the 1-2 up there was amazing. I’m so proud of Torri. I’m proud of myself.”

Nic Fink added to the United States medal count with a silver in the 100-meter breaststroke becoming the oldest first-time U.S. Olympic swimming medalist in modern history.

He is 31.

Fink tied England’s Adam Peaty, finishing the race with a time of 59.05 seconds. Italy’s Nicolo Martinenghi won the event, narrowly edging Fink and Peaty with a time of 59.03 seconds.

The final two medals for the Americans came in a fencing event – the women’s foil individual gold medal bout.

Lee Kiefer defeated fellow American Lauren Scruggs to win the gold medal.

Kiefer won gold in the foil at the Tokyo Games in 2021 and defended that Olympic title while becoming only the second U.S. fencer to win two Olympic gold medals in individual competition.

It marked the first All-American final in the individual foil in Olympic history. Scruggs, a first-time Olympian, took home the silver in a 15-6 loss.