French swimmer Léon Marchand wins 200m butterfly for first Euros gold

French four-time Olympic gold medallist Léon Marchand won the 200m butterfly final at the European championships in Paris on Saturday, setting the world's best time of the year to claim his first continental title.

Two years on from his exploits at the Paris Games, the 24-year-old returned to form in the French capital as he put injury woes behind him to claim Euro gold in a time of 1 minute 51.72 seconds.

He finished a huge 2.34sec ahead of Hungarian silver medallist Richard Marton, with Greece's Apostolos Siskos rounding off the podium a further 0.04sec behind.

"It was a brilliant moment," Marchand said.
"There was an absolutely mad atmosphere in the pool, I'll remember it for a long time.

"The last 50 metres were really good. I think it's the best 50 metres I've swum in a long time, but that also means I might have been able to get off to a faster start."

Marchand's gold was his country's first individual title at these championships.

Hampered by a thigh injury picked up at French nationals in June, Marchand has a reduced programme at the Euros.

He won a silver medal with the 4x200m freestyle relay with France earlier this week and the Toulouse native will have another chance for gold on Sunday when he competes in the 400m freestyle.

(FRANCE 24 with AFP)