Leon Marchand Wins L’Equipe’s Male World Champion of Champions Award

Léon Marchand was voted L’Équipe’s male World Champion of Champions—an award given annually by the L’Équipe editorial staff. The award has been separated by gender since 2012; this year marks the inaugural awards for para-athletes, which were won by a pair of swimmers: Brazil’s Gabriel dos Santos Araujo and China’s Jiang Yuyan.

Last week, Marchand was honored as the male French Champion of Champions. This makes him just the third Frenchman to win the French and World crowns in the same year, joining Zinedine Zidane in 1998 and Renaud Lavillenie in 2014.

Men’s Champion of Champions Ranking

1. Léon Marchand (FRA), swimming — 1118 points
2. Armand Duplantis (SWE), athletics — 778 points
3. Tadej Pogačar (SLO), cycling — 759 points
4. Teddy Reiner (FRA), judo — 229 points
5. Antoine Dupont (FRA), rugby — 223 points

Marchand was the face of the host nation at the Paris Olympics this summer, winning five medals—four of which were golds in Olympic record times. He became the first swimmer since Kornelia Ender in 1976 to win two Olympic golds in the same session, and in the last event of the meet, he swam breaststroke on France’s men’s 4×100 medley relay, helping the team earn bronze in a national record.

These accolades helped him earn 1118 points in L’Équipe’s rankings, securing the title by 340 points. After defending Olympic gold and breaking the men’s pole vault world record multiple times this year, Sweden’s Mondo Duplantis finished second in the voting, just ahead of Slovenia’s Tadej Pogačar, who became the third man to complete cycling’s Triple Crown by winning the Giro d’Italia, Tour de France, and World Championship in the same season.

Two French athletes rounded out the men’s top five, with Teddy Reiner (Judo) and Antoine Dupont (rugby) taking fourth and fifth in voting.

Women’s Champion of Champions Ranking

1. Simone Biles (USA), gymnastics — 1100 points
2. Summer McIntosh (CAN), swimming — 580 points
3. Katie Ledecky (USA), swimming — 552 points
4. Sydney McLaughlin (USA), athletics — 257 points
5. Yaroslava Machuchikh (UKR), athletics — 222 points

Simone Biles won the women’s World Champion of Champions rankings for the fifth time in her career and second-straight year. The most decorated gymnast in history, she picked up four more medals in Paris, including gold in the all-around, vault, and team events. Biles finished ahead of swimmers Summer McIntosh and Katie Ledecky in voting.

Like Marchand in the men’s rankings, she was the only athlete in her rankings to surpass 1000 points. McIntosh—who has picked up many Canadian Athlete of the Year honors—earned 580 points for her Paris performance, which included three golds (200 butterfly, 200 IM, 400 IM) and one silver (400 freestyle).

Ledecky completed a historic Olympic four-peat in the women’s 800 freestyle. She defended her gold from Tokyo in the women’s 1500 freestyle, and her four medals from Paris cemented her as the most decorated female Olympic swimmer in history and the most decorated American female Olympian. She finished third in the voting with 552 points, 52 points behind the teenaged McIntosh.

Men’s Para-Sport Champion of Champions Ranking

1. Gabriel dos Santos Araujo (BRA), para-swimming — 595 points
2. Ihar Boki (BLR), para-swimming — 478 points
3. Alexandre Léauté (FRA), para-cycling — 429 points
4. Guo Jincheng (CHN), para-swimming — 402 points
5. Alexis Hanquinquant (FRA), para-triathlon — 385 points

Two para-swimmers topped the rankings in L’Equipe’s first vote for the men’s para-sport World Champion of Champions. Brazil’s Gabriel dos Santos Araujo won the inaugural crown with 595 points, with Ihar Boki taking the runner-up position.

Araujo, 22, won three gold medals at the Paris Paralympics, bringing his Paralympic medal haul to six after winning three (two golds, one silver) in Tokyo at 19 years old. He broke the men’s 150 IM SM2 world record twice in one day, lowering the mark to 3:14.02 and finishing fourth while swimming up a classification in the SM3 category. He defended his Olympic titles from Tokyo, winning the 200 freestyle S2 and the 50 backstroke S2. Araujo swept the sprint backstrokes in S2, picking up the win in the 100 backstroke S2.

Ihar Boki is one of the most successful Paralympic swimmers in the Games’ history. He was approved to race as a Neutral Paralympic Athlete in Paris, marking his fourth Paralympic appearance. He won five medals, taking gold in the 50 freestyle 13, 400 freestyle S13, 100 backstroke S13, 100 butterfly S13, and 200 IM SM13.

Para-swimmer Guo Jincheng finished fourth in the voting after winning six medals—including four gold—at the Paralympics.

Women’s Para-Sport Champion of Champions Ranking

1. Jiang Yuyan (CHN), para-swimming — 901 points
2. Sarah Storey (GBR), para-cycling — 720 points
3. Catherine Debrunner (SUI), para-athletics — 634 points
4. Saysunee Jana (THA), para-fencing — 346 points
5. Omara Durand (CUB), para-athletics — 221 points

China’s Jiang Yuyan was the most decorated athlete of the Paris Paralympics, and that distinction helped her win the first women’s para-sport World Champion of Champions title. The 20-year-old won set the tone in her first event, capturing the 50 freestyle S6 Paralympic title with a world record.

She also set world records in the 100 freestyle S7 and 100 backstroke S6 and won a whopping seven golds at the competition. She earned individual titles in the 50 freestyle S6, 100 freestyle S7, 400 freestyle S6, 100 backstroke S6, and 50 butterfly S6, along with relay golds in the mixed 4×50 freestyle relay 20 points and mixed 4×50 medley relay 20 points. Her medal haul from Paris brings her career total of Paralympic medals to 11.

Jiang was the only female para-swimmer included in the top five. Behind her, Great Britain’s Sarah Storey took second with 720 points to her 901. Catherine Debrunner rounded out the top three, while Saysunee Jana and Omara Durand finished fourth and fifth in the voting.