PARIS, July 28 (Xinhua) -- France's Leon Marchand set a new Olympic record to claim gold in the men's 400m individual medley at the Paris Olympics on Sunday.
Willed on by frenzied support from home fans at Paris La Defense Arena, Marchand led at every turn to finish in four minutes and 2.95 seconds. The time beat the previous Games record of 4:03.84 set by Michael Phelps in Beijing 16 years ago.
Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita took silver in 4:08.62 and the United States' Carson Foster claimed bronze in 4:08.66.
Marchand's triumph marked the first Olympic swimming gold medal for France since the London 2012 Games.
"I definitely dreamed of that before, every one of us did. Doing this in my hometown is pretty cool," Marchand said.
"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 entered these Games with high expectations, as the reigning world champion in the 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley and 400m individual medley.
He holds the world record in the 400m medley event, having smashed the previous mark held by Phelps with a time of 4:02.50 in Fukuoka last year.
The 22-year-old appeared on track to break the record again on Sunday before fading slightly in the final 50m.
"I was trying to focus on myself, but it's really hard when 15,000 people are cheering for me," he said. "I did well in trying to use this energy to swim as fast as possible. I was trying to not watch every other lane, just stay in my lane, go for it from the very beginning.
"The freestyle was a little tough at the end, but 4:02 is amazing, so I'm really amazed by today." ■
