Leon Marchand achieves one of the boldest double victories in swimming history at the Olympic Games in Paris
NANTERRE, France: It turns out that those comparisons with Michael Phelps were not far-fetched at all in the case of Leon Marchand.
In any case, they were not a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman.
On Wednesday evening, Marchand achieved one of the boldest double victories in swimming history: about two hours apart, he won the 200-meter butterfly and the 200-meter breaststroke in front of a home crowd that cheered his every stroke.
Two grueling races. Two very different styles of swimming. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals.
Take that, Phelps, who himself achieved several one-two victories and won a record eight gold medals at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I'm a really shy person,” said Marchand. “In these two races I was the center of attention. I tried to get the energy from the whole crowd. They are incredible to me and push me in every final.”
Marchand delighted French fans and even took the spotlight on a night when Katie Ledecky won another gold medal. He claimed his second and third wins at the La Défense arena and, even though the Olympics were not even a week old, cemented himself as one of the faces of the Games.
After beating world record holder and reigning Olympic champion Kristof Milák in the 200m butterfly with an unforgettable final sprint, Marchand made it look easy in the 200m breaststroke.
He led the entire time, crossing the finish line in 2 minutes and 5.85 seconds, while more than 15,000 fans – many of them holding up cardboard cutouts of his smiling face – nearly caused the roof of La Défense Arena to burst.
“Léon! Léon! Léon!” they screamed, and this chant would surely continue throughout Paris all night.
Marchand gets things rolling
Marchand was behind for most of the 200-meter butterfly, but overtook Hungary's Milak on the final lap and finished with an Olympic record of 1:51.71, beating the first place finisher by just four hundredths of a second.
Marchand's final lap was almost 0.66 seconds faster than anyone else in the field – and 1.26 seconds faster than Milák.
“I've seen so many races from him,” said Marchand. “I know he's very fast, much faster than me, so I just tried to get as close to him as possible and then push until the end.”
Bronze went to Canadian Ilya Kharun.
After his convincing victory in the 400m individual medley on Sunday, Marchand wagged his finger and shook his head slightly, as if he couldn't quite believe what he had done.
He then left the deck to thunderous applause and began his warm-up. These preparations were, however, interrupted by an obligatory return to the awards ceremony.
After an exuberant performance of the “Marseillaise,” the other two medal winners walked slowly through the pool and had their photos taken.
Not Marchand. He hurried back to the practice pool. There was still another race to go.
Ledecky's record gold
The American star made the most of her guest appearance on the Marchand Show, racing to her seventh individual Olympic gold medal – she also has gold in the relay – and her 12th medal overall with a stunning victory in the 1,500-meter freestyle.
Ledecky, 27, tied fellow Americans Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin and Jenny Thompson for the most medals of any female swimmer. Ledecky already held the record for most individual gold medals by a woman before these Games.
“I try not to think too much about the history,” Ledecky said. “But I know those names, those people I'm up there with, they're swimmers I looked up to when I first started swimming. So it's an honor just to be mentioned among them.”
Ledecky led from the start and steadily pulled away, setting an Olympic record of 15:30.02 in a discipline that was included in the women's program at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021.
It was similar to the race three years ago: Ledecky was far ahead and everyone else was fighting for silver.
France's Anastasiia Kirpichinikova finished almost half a lap behind, but delighted the home fans by securing second place on the podium with a time of 15:40.35.
Bronze went to German Isabel Gose with 15:41.16.
Having started the Paris Games with a bronze medal in the 400m freestyle, this result seemed familiar.
She was clearly thrilled to be back on top, splashing in the water and clenching her fist several times as she walked across the deck – a rare outburst of emotion for a stoic athlete who performs with the efficiency of a machine.
“I know a lot of other people have expected this of me,” Ledecky said. “It doesn't make it easy. I mean, it's not easy to keep going and getting the job done.”
Marchand returns for more gold
When Ledecky walked off the deck with her gold medal, it was time for Marchand to take his second win of the evening.
No problem. With an Olympic record of 2:05.85, he left the field behind in the 200-meter breaststroke, displacing another champion from Tokyo.
Australian Zac Stubblety-Cook had to settle for silver this time, he was almost a second behind with a time of 2:06.79. Casper Corbeau from the Netherlands took bronze.
“The most exciting thing about the whole race was watching him soak it all up and have his big moment,” Stubblety-Cook said. “I think it's just amazing. It's amazing for the sport of swimming and it's amazing to see your better half out of 15,000 people calling out someone's name and watching them swim live.”
Marchand climbed out of the pool and stared at the scoreboard. He shook his curly hair a few times and then threw his arms in the air.
His work was done, at least for a few hours. Next up is the 200 m individual medley, which begins with the heats on Thursday morning.
“I'm so proud of him,” said his coach, American Bob Bowman, who was also Phelps' coach. “This is an enormous, historic achievement.”
Chinese Pan Zhanle sets the first swimming world record of the Paris Games
In all the hustle and bustle, one thing almost went unnoticed: China's Pan Zhanle set the first world record of these games by beating his own record in the 100-meter freestyle.
He won in 46.40, easily beating the mark of 46.80 he set at the World Championships in Doha in February.
This was an impressive achievement considering the shallow pool at La Défense Arena, which was cited as the main reason why no world records were set on the first four days of competition.
Australian Kyle Chalmers took silver and Romanian David Popovici took bronze.
Swedish gold for five-time Olympian Sjöström
Sarah Sjöström celebrated a gold medal at her fifth Olympic Games with a victory in the 100-meter freestyle.
Sjöström had reduced her program at the last two World Championships and swam only the 50 m freestyle. At the Paris Games she decided to add the 100 m and this decision really paid off.
Her winning time was 52.16 seconds, while the USA had to settle for another silver medal – their eighth in this swimming competition – as Torri Huske finished in 52.29 seconds. Siobhan Haughey of Hong Kong took bronze.
