NANTERRE, France >> The party for Léon Marchand spread beyond the pool, quickly sweeping all across Paris.

At Stade de France, hosting the first night of track and field, an enormous ovation broke out when Marchand won his fourth gold medal of the Olympics. The roar was so loud that the first heat of the 400-meter run in the decathlon was delayed.

At the French Olympic house, nearly 20,000 gathered outside to watch Marchand cap his dominating run at the pool.

With French President Emmanuel Macron among the more than 15,000 fans cheering him on in a rugby stadium-turned-natatorium, Marchand soared to another runaway victory in the 200 individual medley Friday night.

“I don’t think anything went wrong this week,” Marchand said. “It was just perfect.”

The 22-year-old French phenomenon left no doubt he’ll be remembered as one of the biggest stars of the Summer Games in his home country. He finished in an Olympic record of 1 minute, 54.06 seconds, just missing Ryan Lochte’s 13-year-old world mark.

That was about the only thing he didn’t accomplish in six magical days at La Defense Arena, previously winning the 400 IM, 200 butterfly and 200 backstroke — the latter two about two hours apart.

Marchand became only the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to win four individual golds at a single games.

The others? Michael Phelps, who did it in both 2004 and 2008; Mark Spitz in 1972; and East German Kristin Otto in 1988.

The silver went to Britain’s Duncan Scott, a body length behind at 1:55.31. China’s Wang Shun grabbed the bronze in 1:56.00, edging out American Carson Foster.

• Katie Ledecky advanced to the finals of the women’s 800 freestyle with a chance to make even more history.

With a victory, Ledecky would join Phelps as the only swimmers — of any gender and from any country — to win four gold medals in the same event.

Ledecky had the fastest time in the morning heats (8:16.62) and will swim the 800 final tonight.

She is the record holder at the distance with a time of 8:04.79.

• Before Marchand’s triumph, Cameron McEvoy and Kaylee McKeown won more gold for Australia.

McEvoy touched first in the 50 freestyle, denying Caeleb Dressel a repeat in swimming’s most frantic event. McKeown followed with a victory in the 200 backstroke to become the first female swimmer to sweep the back at two straight Summer Games.

McEvoy became the first Australian man to win gold at these games, and McKeown quickly boosted her country’s total to an Olympics-leading seven golds.

McKeown noted what an amazing time this is for women’s sports, following in the footsteps of athletes such as Simone Biles and Caitlin Clark in raising the profile of female athletes.

“Not just the Aussie girls, but the whole world and female sports has been unreal this year,” McKeown said. “It’s great to be a part of that.”

McEvoy made it from one end of the pool to the other in 21.25, edging Benjamin Proud of Britain by five-hundredths of a second.

Dressel, who won five gold medals at the Tokyo Olympics, finished sixth in 21.61.

McKeown rallied again, just as she did in the 100 backstroke, to chase down perennial American runner-up Regan Smith. The winning time was an Olympic record of 2:03.73, breaking the mark that Missy Franklin set at the 2012 Games.

Smith swam 2:04.26 for the fifth silver medal of her career.

“That’s one of my fastest times ever,” Smith said. “I think I really gave Kaylee a run for it and I made things really close and exciting. So I’m thrilled with it.”

Dressel qualified in two individual events, but won’t win a medal in either after failing to advance in the 100 butterfly.