Maxime Grousset claimed the men's 50m butterfly on Monday to furnish France with its first gold medal at the 2025 world swimming championships in Singapore and smash his own fastest time over the distance.
The 26-year-old finished in 22.48 seconds. Noé Ponti from Switzerland was second and Italy's Thomas Ceccon took bronze.
On Sunday, Grousset won his semi-final in 22.61 seconds to set a French record.
"I knew it was going to be tough race," Grousset told France TV. "But I believed that I could do it until the very end. I stuck to what I had worked on.
"At the 25-metre mark, I saw that Noé was ahead of me and I said to myself: 'Stay as you are, stay tall'. The last stroke was the one that mattered. It was a fabulous race."
The victory gave Grousset his second gold at a world championships. Two years ago in Fukuoka in Japan, he won the 100m butterfly. But he was only able to finish fifth over the distance at the 2024 Olympics in Paris.
Grousset will also compete at the world championships in the 50m and 100m freestyle.
Elsewhere on the second day of competition, Yohann Ndoye-Brouard advanced to Tuesday's final of the men's 100m backstroke. He progressed in a time of 52.47 seconds.
Marchand medley
"I knew that it would be competitive," said the 24-year-old. "I did about roughly the same time last year when I finished third in the medley at the Olympics. A year later, I'm into the final with the seventh fastest time. But no-one seems to be head and shoulders above the rest so it's going to be an interesting final."
Summer McIntosh from Canada won her second gold of the meeting. On Sunday, the 18-year-old took the women's 400m freestyle and on Monday she won the 200m individual medley.
She completed the combination of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle in two minutes, 6.69 seconds.
Alex Walsh from the United States was nearly two seconds behind to win the silver medal and McIntosh's compatriot, Mary-Sophie Harvey, was third.
French swimmer Léon Marchand, who won four gold medals at the Paris Olympics, will compete in the 200m and 400m individual medley (IM) races.
He starts his campaign in the 200m IM on Wednesday.
