"What the hell is he doing here?": Léon Marchand, surprised to discover the person who presented him with his 200m medley gold medal

A sixth world title and the fourth over the distance... At 23 years old, Léon Marchand dominated these world swimming championships in Singapore, notably with a smashed world record pocketed in the semi-final .

This Wednesday in the final, he once again broke records by pocketing the second best performance in history with a time of 1 min 53 sec 68/100. At 23 years old, he also won the sixth world title of his career. "It's classy, it's so good!" Marchand reacted.

" This is my third in the 200m medley. It's a discipline I really enjoy, it's a lot of fun. It's almost becoming a sprint for me now and it's quite fun to see how far I can go," he said.

But while this new gold medal ultimately didn't come as a real surprise, given the swimmer's preparation, the identity of its presenter did surprise him. It was Tony Parker, who placed the medal around the swimmer's neck.

🏊 #AQUASingapore25 | 😅 "It's so classy. I saw it in the room and I thought, 'What the hell is it doing here?'"

🗣️ Léon Marchand's reaction to Tony Parker presenting him with his gold medal. pic.twitter.com/bTNDqINL5H

" It's classy. It's so classy. I saw him in the call room, I thought, 'What the hell is he doing here?' It's so great to see him here, so great that he can come. You saw the cheers in the crowd. He's a legend, and it's so great to see him here. For him to give me the medal is very special for me," the swimmer told France Télévisions.

The hero of the Paris Games beat two of his training partners in Texas, the American Shaine Casas (1 min 54 sec 30), who challenged him until the end, and the Hungarian Hubert Kos (1 min 55 sec 34).

Despite a difficult recovery, he managed to confirm his performance in the final. "I knew it was going to be tough because I slept very badly last night. I was all excited, I had a lot of adrenaline. I tried to read, to calm down, but it wasn't easy," he admitted. "It was a bit tough, (but) there was a title to go for." Marchand will have another chance at an individual medal on Sunday with the 400m medley.