With French fans cheering every stroke, Marchand cruises to fastest time in men's medley

NANTERRE, France -- With a boisterous crowd cheering him on, Léon Marchand began his home Olympics by cruising to the fastest time in the preliminaries of the 400-meter individual medley Sunday.

The 22-year-old Marchand pulled away in his heat to touch in 4 minutes, 8.30 seconds, with some 15,000 fans at La Defense Arena chanting on every stroke.

“It was a crazy thing,” Marchand said through a translator. “It was beyond what I expected. Everybody was shouting my name.”

It was a comfortable performance for the French phenomenon, who has been compared to Michael Phelps and is guided by the same coach, American Bob Bowman, who was with Phelps for his staggering 23 Olympic gold medals.

Marchand is looking for his first gold, and he'll be a heavy favorite in the evening final. He was more than a second ahead of Britain's Max Litchfield (4:09.51), who was followed by Japan's Daiya Seto (4:10.92) and American Carson Foster (4:11.07).

The big question going into the final: Can Marchand take down his own world record of 4:02.50? He claimed that mark at last year's world championships in Fukuoka, Japan, erasing a record held by Phelps for 15 years.

“I wanted to save my energy,” he said. “I’ve been through one (race), so I can kind of take a breath.”

The defending Olympic champion, 30-year-old Chase Kalisz of the U.S., failed to advance to the final after managing just the 11th-fastest time (4:13.36).

Nineteen-year-old David Popovici of Romania led the way in the 200 freestyle prelims in 1:45.65. American Luke Hobson tied for seventh, and Tokyo silver medalist Duncan Scott of Britain also advanced to the evening semifinals with the 11th-fastest time.

Defending Olympic champion Tom Dean will not get a chance to his title, failing to qualify for the event at the British trials.

South African Tatjana Smith topped the 100 breaststroke prelims in 1:05.00, while American world record holder and 2016 Olympic gold medalist Lilly King advanced to the evening semifinals as the fifth-fastest qualifier (1:06.10).

As in the men's 200 free, the reigning Olympic champion, Lydia Jacoby, failed to qualify for event. She was knocked out with a third-place showing at the U.S. trials.

Hungary's Hubert Kos advanced to the semifinals of the 100 backstroke with the top time (52.78). American star Ryan Murphy also moved on with the fourth-best showing (53.06), looking to reclaim the Olympic title he won at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games before settling for a bronze in Tokyo.

Defending Olympic champion Evgeny Rylov of Russia was banned from the Paris Games for supporting his country's invasion of Ukraine.

Fresh off a victory over Katie Ledecky in the 400 freestyle, Ariarne Titmus began defense of her 200 free title with a time of 1:56.23. The Terminator trailed only her Australian teammate Mollie O'Callaghan (1:55.79) and Canada's Mary-Sophie Harvey (1:56.21).

Tokyo silver medalist Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong was fifth-fastest in the prelims.

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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games