Texas swimmer Carson Foster nabs bronze in Men's 400m IM, France's Leon Marchand wins gold

Texas Longhorns swimmer Carson Foster has won the bronze medal in the men’s 400-meter individual medley at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.

Foster had a final time of 4:08:66 in the race. That was barely enough to make it to the podium in what was a tight race for third. With that, it was the 10th straight Olympics for the United States of America to a medal in the men’s 400-meter individual medley.

Leon Marchand, a French swimmer who also competed in the United States for college at Arizona State, took gold in the event on his home soil. Tomoyuki Matsushita, a Japanese swimmer, took the silver medal.

Leon Marchand wins 400m IM gold in front of an electric crowd in Paris! 🇫🇷🥇#ParisOlympics pic.twitter.com/ailjAYfzPY

— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 28, 2024

At 4:02:95, Marchand set the Olympic record for the event. The previous record was 4:03.84 and it had been set by the legendary Michael Phelps in Beijing during the 2008 Olympics.

The 400-meter individual medley is a race where each swimmer does the four major strokes, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly. Each stroke is done for 100 meters, or to one end of an Olympic-sized pool and back.

Carson Foster has been an up-and-coming swimmer since he was a young child. At the age of 10, he broke his National Age Group record in the 50-meter butterfly for the 10 and under age group with a time of 29.91. That also made him the youngest American to swim that race in under 30 seconds.

Foster has previously competed at the Olympic trials for both the 2016 and the 2020 games, trying to make Team USA in the 400-meter IM. Now, he has a bronze medal in the event.

A swimmer for Texas, Foster is the school’s record holder for the 400 y individual medley, where he was able to do the event in 3:39:79. That’s also a Big 12 Conference record.

Interestingly, Carson Foster’s time at Texas has given him a connection to Leon Marchand. A former college swimmer at Arizona State, Marchand turned pro following the decision by swimming coach Bob Bowman to leave Arizona State for Texas. That means that the swimmers at Texas and Marchand are now sharing a coach.

Following his decision to turn pro, Marchand moved to Austin ahead of the Olympics to train with Bowman. He did that training alongside Foster, among others at the University of Texas.

Bowman is on the French staff for the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris. He previously coached the United States Olympic team at the 2004, 2008, 2012, and 2016 Olympics, making his decision to coach the French team a surprise for many.