World record holder Leon Marchand claimed the 400 metres individual medley gold medal at his home Paris Olympics on Sunday to send fans into delirium at La Defense Arena.
Marchand, nicknamed the 'French Michael Phelps', carried the expectations of a nation into his first event but shrugged off the pressure to touch home first in four minutes and 2.95 seconds.
Japan's Tomoyuki Matsushita took the silver medal, with Carson Foster taking the bronze.
Prepared by Bob Bowman, the coach who turned American Phelps into a gold medal machine, Marchand will bid for another three individual events as the face of his home Games.
