France's Leon Marchand reacts after competing in the men 100m medley event during the World Aquatics Swimming World Cup 2024 - Stop 1 at the Oriental Sports Centre Natatorium in Shanghai, on October 18, 2024. (Photo by Hector RETAMAL / AFP)
Shanghai: Leon Marchand won gold in the 100m individual medley with a timing of 50.65 seconds at the short-course World Cup in Shanghai on Friday, in his first swim since his Paris heroics.
The 22-year-old Frenchman, who won four gold medals and was the poster boy of the Olympics this summer, beat Switzerland's Noe Ponti by just one millisecond.
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.
That put him in elite company alongside American legend Michael Phelps.
"Right now I'm just trying to get back to old training," Marchand, who spent weeks resting after the Olympics, told AFP.
"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 surprised audiences in the 100m individual medley heats earlier on Friday when he walked up to his lane wearing a swimming cap bearing the name of United States great Caeleb Dressel.
The nine-time gold medallist is not in China.
Marchand said he had exchanged caps with Dressel at the Olympics.
"Dressel is someone I look up to in swimming, he really helped me in my swimming career and in my life too, so I was really proud of wearing this cap this morning," he told AFP.
