Arizona State product Léon Marchand kicked off a very busy night with a finishing kick for the ages.
Trailing most of the race, the 22-year-old Frenchman surged past defending Olympic champion and world-record holder Kristóf Milák to capture his second gold medal of the Paris Games with a victory in the 200 butterfly on Wednesday night.
UNREAL. LEON MARCHAND WITH AN INCREDIBLE COMEBACK TO IGNITE THE CROWD IN PARIS. 🇫🇷#ParisOlympics | 📺 NBC & Peacock pic.twitter.com/oErY1zMUvu
— NBC Olympics & Paralympics (@NBCOlympics) July 31, 2024
The crowd at La Defense Arena roared as Marchand touched in an Olympic record of 1:51.71, beating Milák by four-hundredths of a second.
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Fellow Sun Devil Ilya Kharun of Canada earned bronze, coming in at 1:52.80.
Marchand added to his dominating victory in the 400 individual medley and was just getting started on this very busy night: He was set to race again two hours later as the fastest qualifier in the 200 breaststroke.
Turns out, those comparisons to Michael Phelps don’t seem farfetched at all.
Marchand held up one finger after spotting the “1” beside his name on the scoreboard. The 22-year-old 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 from the home crowd. He had to start getting ready for his next race.
USA swimming’s Katie Ledecky cruises to gold in 1,500-meter freestyle
On a night when Marchand was attempting an audacious double, Katie Ledecky proved again she’s a sure bet in swimming’s longest event.
Ledecky romped to the seventh Olympic gold medal of her brilliant career and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500-meter freestyle Wednesday at the Paris Games.
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 medals by a woman.
Ledecky led right from the start and steadily pulled away, touching in an Olympic-record 15 minutes, 30.02 seconds 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 Kirpichnikova finished nearly a half lap behind but thrilled the home fans by claiming the silver 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.