Marchand won after a perfect race in 4 min 4 sec and 28/100, a new European record and second best performance in the world behind Michael Phelps' world record, which still stands: 4:03.84 at the Games. of Beijing in 2008. A monstrous time.
On the first day of the Worlds, the Frenchman is ahead of the two Americans Carson Foster, 20 like him, and the "veteran" Chase Kalisz, 28, Olympic champion in Tokyo last summer.
Marchand, a new sensation in French swimming, had already achieved the best time in the semi-finals in 4 min 09.09, a new French record.
He smashed that mark by nearly five seconds and finished two seconds ahead of Foster (4:06.56) and three ahead of Kalisz (4:07.47).
This is the first gold medal for the young man who trains at the University of Arizona under Bob Bowman, Phelps' ex-coach.
His strong point is the breaststroke, which allowed him to outrun Foster after getting off to a good start and holding up well on the butterfly and especially the backstroke, which is believed to be his weak point.
It was not seen.
© 2022 AFP