European Swimming Championships: 'Léon Marchand is perpetually surprising,' says Denis Auguin in review

French national swimming technical director Denis Auguin described the European Championships as "rather satisfying and interesting," emphasizing the primary goal of fostering new talent within the national team. He noted that this emergence occurred through both individual swimmers and relays.

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We have a rather satisfying and interesting outcome. Ultimately, what we came here to find, we found. The main objective was to foster emergence within the French team. It's really interesting because we achieved it with both individual swimmers and relays.

Auguin acknowledged that the medal count could have been higher if the full team had been available, but stated they worked with the "vagaries of injuries and truncated preparations." Despite these challenges, he expressed contentment with the overall level of the swimmers in a "very high-level competition for European Championships."

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Obviously, the accounting balance in terms of medals could have been a bit better if we had had all our forces, but we worked with the vagaries of injuries and truncated preparations. In any case, it's a rather positive outcome and I am quite happy with the overall level of our swimmers in a competition that was of a very high level for European Championships.

Regarding Léon Marchand, Auguin called him an "exceptional swimmer, an exceptional champion" for his performance capabilities and ability to switch focus. He admitted that Marchand's participation was not easy, but his achievements were "not a huge surprise, very honestly," adding that the athlete is "perpetually surprising."

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What he achieved was not a huge surprise, very honestly. This boy is perpetually surprising anyway. He is an exceptional swimmer, an exceptional champion in his ability to perform and also to switch.