A 22-year-old Frenchman is to follow in Michael Phelps' footsteps – but gets an enormous pressure on him at the home European Championship.
At the same time, swimming is haunted by the doping scandal with China.
+ This is how the swimming is decided
Starting on Saturday at the Paris La Defense Arena and continuing until next Sunday. The qualifying rounds start at 11.00 and the final rounds at 20.30, except for the last day when the final round starts at 18.30.
It is also the last day Sarah Sjöström is chasing gold on 50 meters freestyle.
The arena is one of Europe's largest multi-arenas indoors and Taylor Swift performed here recently. Home ground for the French rugby team Racing 92.
+ Huge pressure on young Frenchman
Léon Marchand, 22, is being touted as the next Michael Phelps – not so surprising when he is trained by Bob Bowman, Phelps' former coach, at Arizona University.
Marchand swims four individual events and in France, they hope he will sweep the board on 200 and 400 meters medley, 200 meters butterfly, and 200 meters breaststroke.
A heavy burden to carry for a swimmer who has not taken any Olympic medal (sixth at best in Tokyo), but who took two World Championship golds in 2022 and three in 2023.
Last year in the Fukuoka World Championship, he also broke Phelps' old world record on 400 meters medley.
+ Ledecky can become the greatest – again
Katie Ledecky, the American long-distance star, is already historic with six individual Olympic golds – the most on the women's side in swimming.
With relay gold included, she has seven.
But she is still second after the former American star Jenny Thompson, who has a total of eight golds and twelve Olympic medals. She took all her golds in relays, though.
Ledecky stands on seven golds and ten medals.
Ledecky took her first on 800 meters freestyle in London 2012, then won four golds in Rio 2016 and two in Tokyo 2021.
+ Super clash directly
Three of the biggest swimming stars meet directly on 400 meters freestyle. There, Katie Ledecky faces Australian Ariarne Titmus, 23, and Canadian wonderkid Summer McIntosh, 17.
Titmus defeated Ledecky in Tokyo 2021, then McIntosh broke the world record on the distance in 2023, but Titmus took it back in the World Championship the same year.
Saturday's final is described by many as the highlight of the Olympic swimming.
+ The scandal overshadows the swimming
The revelation that 23 Chinese swimmers tested positive for doping ahead of Tokyo 2021 lies like a dark cloud over the swimming.
The anti-doping agency Wada and the International Swimming Federation bought China's own explanation that the small amounts of the heart medication trimetazidine came from contaminated food.
But the story was swept under the carpet and only came to light in April this year after revelations by The New York Times and ARD.
Eleven of the Chinese who left positive tests, but were never banned, are in Paris.
Among them are stars like breaststroker Qin Haiyang (four World Championship golds last year) and Zhang Yufei (two Olympic golds in Tokyo).
