Marchand ends Shanghai World Cup event with three titles
22-year-old Frenchman was the poster boy of the Olympics winning four golds
Shanghai: Leon Marchand on Sunday emphatically won a third title at swimming’s short-course World Cup in Shanghai, in his first meet since taking the Paris Olympics by storm.
The 22-year-old Frenchman, the poster boy of the Olympics with four golds, blitzed the 400m individual medley final on the last day in China to go with victories in the 100m and 200m medley.
He triumphed in 4:00.03, beating out Italy’s Alberto Razzetti by 1.48sec.
There was to be no fourth title however as he came fourth in the 200m breaststroke, 1.32sec behind winner Joshua Yong of Australia.
Marchand was thrust into the global spotlight at the Paris Olympics when he won all four of his individual races — the 200m butterfly, 200m breaststroke and 200m-400m medley double.
Elite company
That put him in elite company alongside American legend Michael Phelps.
“Right now I’m just trying to get back to old training,” Marchand told AFP on Friday.
“I don’t really expect a lot of results, I’m just trying to have fun and go back to my standards,” he said.
Marchand is next set to compete in South Korea in the coming week on the next stop of the World Cup.