Tokyo (AFP)

It was scheduled for Paris-2024, and here it is in the Olympic final: Léon Marchand, 19, came out of the 400-meter medley series, unlike the Japanese triple world champion Daiya Seto.

"It was great, I enjoyed my moment", retains this son of international swimmers, about his first Olympic steps.

Distanced at halfway, the Toulousain returned in the last 150 meters to snatch the 7th fastest time, in 4 min 10 sec 09, very close to the French record that he had smashed by more than five seconds in mid-June (4: 09.65).

"In addition, strategically, it was nice, because they all started faster, and I was able to come back to breaststroke, my strong point. Afterwards, in crawl, it was the battle with everyone. , it was really cool. I lived it thoroughly, and I qualified in the final, it's really great! ".

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The final expected Sunday at 10:30 am local, which will award the first of 35 titles expected during this Olympic swimming week, promises to be very uncertain, with eight swimmers in the same second Saturday.

Australian Brendon Smith set the fastest time in 4: 09.27, a new Oceania record, ahead of New Zealander Lewis Clareburt (4: 09.49), American Chase Kalisz (4: 09.65) and Hungarian David Verraszto ( 4: 09.80).

Great disappointment for the host country, Daiya Seto was eliminated (9th), while he advanced as a big favorite with his three world titles over the distance and the best time of the season.

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- Wattel already thoroughly -

Long awaited in the 100-meter butterfly after her European title, the Frenchwoman Marie Wattel reached the semi-final with the 8th fastest time (57.08), coming close to her personal best.

"I'm not going to lie, I gave everything," she confided after the race.

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However, the bar seems high to catch the best, led by the Chinese Yufei Zhang and the Australian Emma McKeon (both 55:82), and the Swedish Olympic champion Sarah Sjöström (56:18), well recovered from her fracture. elbow.

But the reversed schedules to satisfy the American TVs - finals in the morning, playoffs in the evening - do not scare the sprinter, hardly successful at the 2016 Olympics in Rio and left in the wake of progress in Loughborough, England.

"I worked on it in training, I'm going to take the dose of coffee and it will do it," she assured.

Marie Wattel, however, will not have a second opportunity to dive Sunday morning: the women's 4x100m relay, for which she had been spared in the series, did not manage to reach the final.

European Champions in 2018 and ambitious before the Games, the French women only achieved 10th fastest time, nearly five seconds behind the untouchable Australians, who edged the Dutch and Canadians.

Fantine Lesaffre and David Aubry were also eliminated in the playoffs, the first in the 400m medley and the second in the 400m, but their Games are not over: Lesaffre, who appeared far from her best, is still involved in the 200m. medley, while Aubry will compete in the 10 km in open water.

Foreign stars for their part lived up to expectations: the triple Hungarian Olympic champion Katinka Hosszu, 32, qualified for the final but with only 7th time (4: 36.01), clearly ahead of rising American star Emma Weyant , 19 (4: 33.55), and Briton Aimee Willmott, 28 (4: 35.28).

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Unsurprisingly, the Olympic champion and world record holder in the 100m breaststroke, the Briton Adam Peaty (57.56), crushed his series to reach the semi-finals of the specialty, played on Sunday morning.

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