Leon Marchand Seeks Fourth Paris Olympics Gold As Sha'Carri Richardson Begins 100m Bid

France's golden boy Leon Marchand returns to the pool Friday seeking a fourth swimming title at the Paris Olympics while Sha'Carri Richardson launches her bid for 100m glory as track and field action gets under way. The 22-year-old Marchand has taken his home Games by storm, starting with gold in the 400m individual medley before an unprecedented double in the 200m butterfly and 200m breaststroke. Spurred on by a deafening crowd at La Defense Arena, he will chase another gold in the 200m medley, an event he won at the 2022 and 2023 world championships.

"It will be my last chance to experience a moment like this so I'm going to take it all in and give my all," said Marchand after qualifying fastest for the final.

American Caeleb Dressel will attempt to defend his 50m freestyle crown from Florent Manaudou, the Frenchman who won gold in London 12 years ago and has claimed silver at each of the past two Games.

Australia's Kaylee McKeown aims to make it a second straight Olympic backstroke double in the 200m, having already secured successive golds in the 100m.

On the track, US sprint star Richardson will look to live up to her billing as the women's 100m favourite, having missed the Tokyo Games after being banned for taking marijuana.

She must hold off Jamaica's Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, the ageing five-time world 100m champion who is seeking her third Olympic gold in the discipline.

Richardson, who is trying to become the first US woman to win an Olympic 100m title since Gail Devers in 1996, said: "When I get on the blocks, it's about getting the job done. I know there's joy at the other end, at the finish line."

The first medals to be awarded on the track come in the men's 10,000m.

Three-time world champion Joshua Cheptegei