In the Hungarian capital, the Blues went for eight medals.

Léon Marchand, 20, won three.

Maxime Grousset, 23, won two, while Marie Wattel, 25, Analia Pigrée, 20 and Mélanie Henique, 29, won one each.

Double world champion in the medley and silver medalist in the 200m butterfly, Marchand established himself during the week as the new phenomenon of French swimming.

His gold medal, won brilliantly on the first day of competition in the 400m medley, gave a wild impetus to the camp of the France team, which had gathered in the stands to shout out its new prodigy.

Frenchwoman Marie Wattel before her 50m freestyle semi-final at the Budapest Worlds, June 24, 2022 Attila KISBENEDEK AFP

"It really gives us strength, we want to do like him," said Yohann Ndoye Brouard, 21, who then came close to the podium in the 100m backstroke final.

"Positive Spiral"

This momentum continued the next day with Marie Wattel's silver medal in the 100m butterfly.

"I feel that there is a dynamic, we are in a positive spiral," said Marchand, who has been following the advice of American coach Bob Bowman, ex-mentor of Michael Phelps, since this season.

"I think it's because we started strong Marie and I, and suddenly everyone thinks that everyone can do something in each race.

Frenchman Maxime Grousset during the World Swimming Championships, June 23, 2022 in Budapest Ferenc ISZA AFP / Archives

But behind the locomotive Léon Marchand, other Blues have also confirmed the expectations placed on them in the Duna Arena in the Hungarian capital.

In particular Maxime Grousset, 23, who leaves with two medals, silver in the queen race, the 100m freestyle, and bronze in the 50m.

A performance that allows him to project himself with enthusiasm towards the Paris Olympics.

"We'll see how far the path takes me," smiled the New Caledonian, who sees a "renewal" within the France group.

"There was a team that was quite old in quotation marks, and there are a lot of very talented young people who arrived and who give a kind of freshness (...) It's huge all the medals we get. France team has evolved well, well."

Frenchwoman Analia Pigrée (d) congratulated by her teammates after her bronze medal in the 50m backstroke at the World Championships in Budapest, June 22, 2022 Ferenc ISZA AFP / Archives

Beyond the medals, the Blues disputed in Budapest sixteen finals in the individual races and three in the relay, equaling the record of the World Championships in Shanghai in 2011.

"Keep calm"

What an evolution since the Tokyo Games!

In Japan last summer, only the veteran Florent Manaudou had climbed onto a podium, that of the 50m freestyle (2nd), and only Marchand, Grousset and Wattel had taken part in the individual finals.

Frenchwoman Mélanie Hénique and her silver medal in the 50m butterfly at the World Swimming Championships, June 24, 2022 in Budapest Attila KISBENEDEK AFP

But these good results, after several moribund years, should not plunge the Blues into euphoria, warns the staff of the Blues.

"Almost everything has turned on the right side this week. We won several medals at one or two or three hundredths", recalled Denis Auguin, team leader of the delegation.

According to him, "we must put the level of these Worlds into perspective", due to the absence of many international swimmers.

"There are no Russians, there are top swimmers who are not there, you have to be aware of that," he said.

"For me, the medal record is not very important at the moment. The medal record, we will do it in Paris. What is important is to build the possibility of being successful. This is what what we did," he said.

The preparation for the Olympics, "we cut it up a bit like a show", he explained.

"This year it was rehearsals. Next year it's dress rehearsal, etc."

"We can say that we are a little ahead of what we had planned but we must remain very calm," he warned.

© 2022 AFP