French swimmer Léon Marchand wins 200m butterfly for first Euros gold

French four-time Olympic gold medallist Léon Marchand received the 200m butterfly ultimate on the European championships in Paris on Saturday, setting the world’s greatest time of the 12 months to say his first continental title.

Two years on from his exploits on the Paris Games, the 24-year-old returned to kind within the French capital as he put harm woes behind him to say Euro gold in a time of 1 minute 51.72 seconds.

He completed an enormous 2.34sec forward of Hungarian silver medallist Richard Marton, with Greece’s Apostolos Siskos rounding off the rostrum an additional 0.04sec behind.

“It was a brilliant moment,” Marchand mentioned.

“There was an absolutely mad atmosphere in the pool, I’ll remember it for a long time.

“The final 50 metres have been actually good. I believe it is the most effective 50 metres I’ve swum in a very long time, however that additionally means I may need been capable of get off to a quicker begin.”

Marchand’s gold was his country’s first individual title at these championships.

Hampered by a thigh injury picked up at French nationals in June, Marchand has a reduced programme at the Euros.

Read extraEuropean swimming championships: France take silver in males’s 4 x 200m freestyle relay

He received a silver medal with the 4x200m freestyle relay with France earlier this week and the Toulouse native can have one other likelihood for gold on Sunday when he competes within the 400m freestyle.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)