- Leon Marchand is quickly becoming one of the stories of the Paris Olympics
- The French swimmer has won all three of his nation’s gold medals in the pool
Leon Marchand has pulled off the unimaginable with two gold medals on Wednesday night, sealing a stunning 200m Breaststroke win to add to his 200m Butterfly title earlier in the session.
The swimmer has been one of the home favourites throughout the games, his every stroke greeted by cheers from the crowd, and he well and truly delivered on Wednesday evening.
Despite being warned against even attempting it, Marchand made it to the finals of both the 200m Breaststroke and the 200m Butterfly, which took place within the same session.
Marchand kicked off an improbable double with a finishing kick for the ages.
Trailing most of the race, Marchand surged past defending Olympic champion and world-record holder Kristof Milak to capture his second gold medal of the Paris Games with a victory in the 200-meter butterfly on Wednesday night.
Leon Marchand created history with two individual Olympic gold medals in the pool in the same session
Marchand stunned with a 200m Butterfly gold in what was considered his less likely chance at a win
He then added his second gold – and Olympic record – with the 200m Breaststroke around two hours later
The crowd at La Defense Arena roared as Marchand touched in an Olympic record of 1min 51.71s, beating Milak by four-hundredths of a second.
He then turned what was scorned as borderline arrogance into one of the Olympic Games’ greatest ever achievements, with a truly emphatic performance in the Breaststroke.
The Frenchman led from the off and simply blew away the rest of the competition to pull off a feat that not even the great Michael Phelps could ever accomplish.
Not only did he make it two for two against the odds, but he also broke the Olympic records in both events along the way, touching the boards at 2min 5.85s.
All three of France’s gold medals in the pool have come from Marchand, who is quickly becoming one of the stories of Paris 2024.
‘Greatness,’ said former 50m Freestyle swimmer Mark Foster on BBC. ‘Two Olympic golds in one night. Greatness.’
Part of how impressive the feat is – aside from the fact that they came within about two hours and saw him break records twice – is the fact the two are different strokes technically.
While the fly is one of the quicker strokes, the breaststroke is the slowest, with both requiring fundamentally different techniques for both feet, arms, and importantly breathing.