Marchand storms to second gold of European championships

French swimming star Leon Marchand powered to his second gold of the European championships in Paris on Sunday, easing to victory in the 400m freestyle, an event he rarely races.

Clocking 3min 43.14sec, he won by a margin of 1.32 seconds over Hungary's Oliver Papai. The bronze went to Germany's Lukas Martens, the world record holder.

Four-time Olympic champion Marchand had already won gold in the 200m butterfly final in Paris.

"It was a new race for me, so I really enjoyed it," said Marchand, who then helped France to bronze in the men's 4x100m medley relay later Sunday.

He also won a silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay earlier in the week.

"Basically I tried to keep my blinders on for the first 200 metres," he explained.

"Then I realised the field was going to come back strong, so that's when I gradually started kicking harder.

"I could see I was well ahead, and the crowd cheering was really spurring me on, so I fed off that energy. The last 25 metres were a bit of a struggle though.

"I think there are plenty of things I can improve, but being European champion in the 400m freestyle, I couldn't ask for much more."

Marchand was one of the stars of the 2024 Paris Olympics, winning gold in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke, as well as the 200m and 400m individual medleys.

The 24-year-old was racing a reduced schedule at the Europeans as he continues to recover from a thigh injury.

Earlier, Hungarian Hubert Kos won his third men's 200m individual medley Euros title, in the absence of Marchand, for his third gold of the championships.

Kos completed the four-length race in 1:54.24 to add to his gold medals in the 200m backstroke and men's 100m freestyle relay.

The 23-year-old built a significant lead during the backstroke leg before seeing Spain's Hugo Gonzalez charge towards him. Kos held firm in the final metres to secure the win.

He finished two-tenths of a second ahead of Gonzalez, while 18-year-old Russian Mikhail Shcherbakov, competing under a neutral flag, took the bronze.

Britain won two more gold medals on the final night of competition to finish top of the medals table with eight golds and 14 medals in total.

Keanna Macinnes won the 200m butterfly and then helped Britain seal the women's 4x100m medley relay title ahead of Italy.

Italian teenage star Sara Curtis got her country off to a blistering start but an exceptional finish by Freya Colbert gave Britain the spoils.

Italy were second with 20 medals, of which six were gold.

Italy's Simona Quadarella finished in style, winning the women's 400m freestyle final, just days after securing titles in the 800m and 1,500m events.

After holding third place for much of the race, Quadarella (4:01.74) surged ahead in the final 100 metres to see off Germans Isabel Gose and Maya Werner.

The 27-year-old had previously achieved a 400m, 800m, and 1,500m freestyle treble at the 2018 European Championships in Rome.

She also holds three long-course world titles and an Olympic bronze medal, won in the 800m at the Tokyo Games in 2020.

Lithuanian Ruta Meilutyte claimed gold in the women's 50m breaststroke for the third time.

Defending champion Apostolos Christou of Greece retained his 100m backstroke gold medal as Ukrainian teenager Nikita Sheremet won his first title in the men's 50m freestyle.