Los Angeles (United States) (AFP) – French swim star Leon Marchand out-dueled Denis Petrashov to win the 200m breaststroke at the Austin Pro Swim Series on Saturday, closing out the meeting with his third victory of the week. Marchand, who counted the 200m breaststroke among his four gold medals at the Paris Olympics, was third at the 100m mark. He had taken a narrow lead at the final turn, but it wasn’t until the closing meters that he gained a decisive advantage, touching in 2min 09.72sec to beat Kyrgyzstan’s Petrashov by 1.03sec.
Marchand, now training in Austin with former Michael Phelps coach Bob Bowman, added the victory to the 200m and 400m individual medley titles he captured earlier this week. He was part of a strong French showing on the final night of the meeting. Maxime Grousset, the reigning world champion in the 50m and 100m butterfly, won the 50m fly in a US Open record of 22.80sec. France’s Marie Wattel won the women’s 50m fly in 26.01, and France’s Yohann Ndoye Brouard won the men’s 50m backstroke in 24.94 — just six-hundredths of a second in front of American Shaine Casas.
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US freestyle great Katie Ledecky impressed again in her third win of the week, clocking 8:10.16 to win the 800m free — 25.62sec ahead of teenager Brinkleigh Hansen. Ledecky has dominated the 800m free for more than a decade. The first of her nine Olympic gold medals came in the event at the 2012 London Games, and the 28-year-old shows no sign of relinquishing her grip as the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics beckon. Her swim capped an outstanding first meet of 2026 in which Ledecky won the 1500m freestyle in the second-fastest time in history before cruising to victory in the 400m free.
American Regan Smith won the 200m butterfly in 2:05.29, leading all the way to beat Lindsay Looney by 4.35sec. She returned to win the 50m backstroke in 27.67, her third gold of the meeting.
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