{"id":19372,"date":"2026-08-16T14:46:57","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T09:46:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/?p=19372"},"modified":"2026-08-16T14:46:57","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T09:46:57","slug":"leon-marchand-wins-first-european-g","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/2026\/08\/16\/leon-marchand-wins-first-european-g\/","title":{"rendered":"Leon Marchand wins First European gold as Liebmann breaks 1,500m World Record"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leon Marchand wins First European gold as Liebmann breaks 1,500m World Record<\/strong><\/h3>\n

PARIS: French swimming star Leon Marchand<\/a> returned to winning form at the European Championships in Paris on Saturday, capturing his first continental title in the men\u2019s 200m butterfly, while German teenager Johannes Liebmann stunned the swimming world by breaking the 1,500m freestyle world record.<\/p>\n

The four-time Olympic gold medallist dominated the 200m butterfly final, clocking a world-leading 1 minute 51.72 seconds. The 24-year-old finished 2.34 seconds ahead of Hungary\u2019s Richard Marton, while Greece\u2019s Apostolos Siskos took bronze, just 0.04 seconds behind the Hungarian.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a brilliant moment,\u201d Marchand said, praising the atmosphere inside the packed pool.<\/p>\n

Marchand has been competing on a reduced programme at the championships after suffering a thigh injury at the French national championships in June. He had already helped France win silver in the 4x200m freestyle relay and will have another opportunity to claim gold in the 400m freestyle on Sunday.<\/p>\n

Marchand\u2019s victory marked France\u2019s first individual gold medal of the championships. His compatriot Mary-Ambre Moluh soon added another title by winning the women\u2019s 100m backstroke in a European-record time of 57.94 seconds. Dutch swimmer Marrit Steenbergen took silver, while France\u2019s Pauline Mahieu claimed bronze.<\/p>\n

Liebmann Breaks 1,500m World Record<\/strong><\/p>\n

Germany\u2019s 19-year-old Johannes Liebmann produced one of the biggest performances of the championships by breaking Bobby Finke\u2019s 1,500m freestyle world record, set at the 2024 Paris Olympics.<\/p>\n

Liebmann touched the wall in 14 minutes 26.79 seconds, improving the previous record by nearly four seconds. He won the race by a commanding 12.66 seconds over Hungary\u2019s Zalan Sarkany, with Germany\u2019s Oliver Klemet taking bronze.<\/p>\n

The teenager has now won two gold medals in Paris. He had already set a European record while winning the 800m freestyle title earlier in the championships.<\/p>\n

In the women\u2019s 50m freestyle, Poland\u2019s Kasia Wasick claimed gold in 23.84 seconds, edging Sweden\u2019s Sarah Sjostrom by 0.02 seconds. Sjostrom\u2019s silver was the 30th European medal of her career.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s 19-year-old Sara Curtis won bronze, taking her medal tally at the championships to five after twice breaking the world record in the 50m backstroke.<\/p>\n

Ireland\u2019s Ellen Walshe also enjoyed another golden night, winning the women\u2019s 200m individual medley in 2:09.81. The victory came a day after she triumphed in the 400m individual medley.<\/p>\n

Italy\u2019s Anita Gastaldi finished second in 2:10.07, while Belgium\u2019s Roos Vanotterdijk took bronze.<\/p>\n

In the men\u2019s 50m breaststroke, Italy\u2019s Nicolo Martinenghi secured his second gold medal of the championships. His winning time of 26.57 seconds was 0.05 seconds faster than Dutchman Koen de Groot and fellow Italian Simone Cerasuola.<\/p>\n

The victory took Martinenghi\u2019s career tally of individual European Championship gold medals to four.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Leon Marchand wins First European gold as Liebmann breaks 1,500m World Record PARIS: French swimming star Leon Marchand returned to winning form at the European Championships in Paris on Saturday, capturing his first continental title in the men\u2019s 200m butterfly, while German teenager Johannes Liebmann stunned the swimming world by breaking the 1,500m freestyle world […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19373,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2297,2305],"tags":[4016],"class_list":["post-19372","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-latest-news","category-sports","tag-leon-marchand"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19372","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19372"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19372\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19374,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19372\/revisions\/19374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19373"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19372"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19372"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newspulse.com.pk\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19372"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}