(Paris, France) Three days after securing his first Olympic gold medal, Léon Marchand won two more gold medals Wednesday evening in Paris, setting two Olympic records in the 200m fly and the 200m breast for gold. Sun Devil sophomore Ilya Kharun secured the bronze medal, finishing in 1:52.80 for his first Olympic medal and the first medal for Canada in the 200m fly.
In the final 50m meters of the 200m fly, Marchand put together a magnificent charge to overtake Hungarian swimmer Milak Kristof, coming home to gold in 28.97. It’s Marchand’s second Olympic record of the week, breaking Kristof Milak’s (1:51.25) record set in the Tokyo Olympics.
Photo – NBC Olympics
Less than two hours after his triumphant comeback, Marchand led wire-to-wire in the 200m breaststroke, pulling away from the field after the 100m mark to finish in a record-breaking 2:05.85, his third Olympic record of the week.
“I had two gold medals in two hours, that is quite incredible.” said Léon Marchand.
For Kharun, he withstood a charge to win bronze, setting a Canadian Olympic record. In his freshman year alone, he became an NCAA Individual national champion in the 200y fly, and was part of the 400y medley relay team that won an NCAA championship and set an NCAA record. The Canadian is also a 6-time Pac-12 champion. It’s the first time a Canadian swimmer has medaled in the 200m fly in the Olympics.
With Marchand’s win in the 200m fly, he becomes the first French swimmer to win multiple gold medals in a single Olympic games and becomes the fifth Sun Devil to win more than one gold medal, joining Justin Huish (Archery), Troy Dalbey (Men’s Swimming), Melissa Belote-Ripley (Women’s Swimming) and Henry Carr (Men’s Track & Field).
After his victory in the 200m breaststroke, he became one of two Sun Devils to win at least three gold medals in the same Olympics, joining Melissa Belote-Ripley who achieved the feat in the 1972 Munich Games.
In addition, Marchand became the first swimmer to claim multiple gold medals in the same day since 1976 and is the fourth swimmer in history to win two individual gold medals on the same day, joining Kornelia Ender (East Germany), Frederick Land (Australia) and Alfred Hajos (Hungary). The Frenchman becomes the first swimmer in history to win medals in the butterfly and the breaststroke in the same Olympics, breaking both Olympic records and winning gold in each event. Lastly, he becomes the fourth male swimmer in Olympic history to win more than two individual gold medals in the same Olympics, joining Michael Phelps (2x), Mark Spitz and Caleb Dressel.
For Marchand, he has one more event remaining this week, racing in the 200m IM heats which starts at around 2:47 a.m. AZT/11:47 CEST (Paris Time) to attempt to qualify for Thursday evening’s semifinal.
Press Release courtesy of Sun Devil Athletics – Zach Wargo
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