Léon Marchand pulls off one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history at the Paris Olympics
AP National Writer
NANTERRE, France (AP) — Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps weren’t farfetched at all when it comes to Léon Marchand.
They certainly weren’t a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman.
Marchand completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history Wednesday night, winning the 200-meter butterfly and the 200 breaststroke about two hours apart in front a home crowd cheering his every stroke.
Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals.
Thrilling the French fans and claiming the spotlight even on a night when Katie Ledecky romped to another gold medal, Marchand notched his second and third victories at La Defense Arena and stamped himself — with the Olympics not even a week old — as one of the faces of the Games.
After rallying to beat world-record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristóf Milák in the 200 fly with a finishing kick for the ages, Marchand made it look easy in the 200 breast.
He led all the way, touching in 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds as more than 15,000 fans — many of them holding up cardboard cutouts of his smiling face — nearly blew the roof off La Defense Arena.
“Léon! Léon! Léon!” they screamed, a chant that was sure to carry on through the night in Paris.
Marchand gets thing rolling
Trailing most of the way in the 200 fly, Marchand surged past the Hungarian Milák on the final lap to finish with an Olympic record of 1:51.71, beating Milák by four-hundredths of a second.
Marchand’s final lap was nearly 0.66 faster than anyone else in the field — and 1.26 clear of Milák.
The bronze went to Canada’s Ilya Kharun.
Following up his dominating victory in the 400 individual medley on Sunday, Marchand held up one finger after spotting the “1” beside his name on the scoreboard. He shook his head just a bit, as if he couldn’t quite believe what he had done.
Then, he hustled off the deck to another rousing cheer to begin his warm down, though those preparations were interrupted by a mandatory return for the victory ceremony.
After a boisterous rendition of “La Marseillaise,” the other two medalists walked slowly around the pool, getting their pictures made.
Not Marchand. He hustled back to the practice pool. There was another race to go.
Ledecky’s record gold
The American star made the most of her guest appearance on The Marchand Show by romping to her seventh individual Olympic gold medal — she also has a gold in a relay — and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500 freestyle.
The 27-year-old Ledecky tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals ever by a female swimmer. Ledecky already held the mark for most individual gold medals by a woman coming into these games.
Ledecky led right from the start and steadily pulled away, touching in an Olympic-record 15:30.02 in an event that joined the women’s program at the Tokyo Games in 2021.
This was similar to the race three years ago: Ledecky far in front and everyone else racing for a silver.
France’s Anastasiia Kirpichinikova finished nearly a half lap behind but thrilled the home fans by claiming the second spot on the podium in 15:40.35.
The bronze went to Germany’s Isabel Gose at 15:41.16.
After starting the Paris Games with a bronze in the 400 freestyle, this result looked more familiar for Ledecky.
She was clearly thrilled to be on top again, splashing the water and pumping her fist several times walking across the deck — a rare show of emotion for a stoic athlete who performs with machine-like efficiency.
Marchand returns for more gold
As Ledecky was walking off the deck with her gold medal, it was time for Marchand to go back to work.
He blew away the field in the 200 breaststroke with an Olympic record of 2:05.85, knocking off another champion from Tokyo.
Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook settled for the silver this time, nearly a second behind in 2:06.79. Claiming the bronze was Casper Corbeau of the Netherlands.
Marchand climbed out of the pool and stared at the scoreboard. He tussled his mop of curly hair a few times, then threw his arms in the air.
His work was done, at least for this night.
China’s Pan Zhanle sets first swimming world record of Paris Games
Nearly lost in all the hoopla was China’s Pan Zhanle setting the first world record of these games, breaking his own mark in the 100 freestyle.
He won in 46.40, easily knocking off the mark of 46.80 he set in February at the world championships in Doha.
It was an impressive performance given the shallow pool at La Defense Arena, which has been cited as the big reason no world records fell over the first four days of the meet.
Australia’s Kyle Chalmers claimed the silver and David Popovici of Romania nabbed the bronze.
Swedish gold for 5-time Olympian Sjöström
Sarah Sjöström made her fifth Olympics a gold-medal celebration.
The 30-year-old Swedish veteran pulled off her own surge to the finish to win the 100 freestyle for the second gold of her brilliant career.
Sjöström had pared down her program at the last two world championships, swimming only the 50 freestyle. She decided to add the 100 at the Paris Games, and boy did that decision pay off.
“I didn’t think I would swim the 100 free honestly,” she conceded, but her coach talked her into it. “I wanted to rest until the fifth day and he was like, ‘No way. You need to go out there and see what you can do no matter the outcome.’”
Amazingly, in an event in which she’s held the world record for seven years, Sjöström had never won the 100 free at the biggest meets.
Her only previous Olympic medal in the race was a bronze in 2016. At the world championships, she has four silvers and a bronze.
Sjöström was only fourth at the turn but kicked into another gear on the return lap, touching in 52.16 seconds. The U.S. team settled for another silver medal — its eighth of the swimming competition – when Torri Huske finished in 52.29. Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong took the bronze at 52.33, edging Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan by one-hundredth of a second.
It was the fifth Olympic medal overall for Sjöström, who first competed at the 2008 Beijing Games.
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