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 of a home crowd cheering his every stroke.
Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals.
Take that, Phelps, who did several doubles of his own while claiming a record eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
“I’m a really shy person,” Marchand said. “I was kind of the center of attention during those two races. I was trying to get the energy from the whole crowd. They’re amazing to me, pushing me in every final.”
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, touching first by just 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.
“I’ve been watching so many races from him,” Marchand said. “I know he has a lot of speed, way more than me, so I was just trying to get as close as possible, and then just push it until the end.”
The bronze went to Canada’s Ilya Kharun.
Following up his dominating victory in the 400 individual medley on Sunday, Marchand waved one finger and 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 relay gold -- 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.
“I try not to think about history very much,” Ledecky said. “But I know those names, those people that I’m up there with, they’re swimmers that I looked up to when I first started swimming. So it’s an honor just to be named among them.”
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.
“I know a lot of other people expected it of me,” Ledecky said. “That doesn’t make it easy. I mean, it’s not easy to always follow through and you get the job done.”
Marchand returns for more gold
As Ledecky was walking off the deck with her gold medal, it was time for Marchand to go for his second of the night.
No problem. 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.
“The most exciting part of that whole race and watching him soak it all up and have his moment,” Stubblety-Cook said. “I think it’s awesome. It’s great for the sport of swimming and it’s great to see the better half of 15,000 people chanting one person’s name and watching swimming live.”
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 a few hours. Next up is the 200 individual medley, which begins with heats Thursday morning.
“I’m so very proud of him,” said his coach, American Bob Bowman, who also was Phelps’ coach. “That’s a tremendous, historic effort.”
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 with a victory in the 100 freestyle.
Sjöström had pared down her program at the last two world championships, swimming only the 50 free. She decided to add the 100 at the Paris Games, and boy did that decision pay off.
Her winning time was 52.16, with the US settling 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.
