NANTERRE, France (AP) — Léon 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 Kristóf Milák to capture his second gold medal of the Paris Games with a victory in the 200-meter butterfly on Wednesday night.
The crowd at La Defense Arena roared as Marchand touched in an Olympic record of 1 minute, 51.71 seconds, beating Milák by four-hundredths of a second.
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. He 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,
Swedish gold
Sarah Sjöström turned her fifth Olympics into a gold-medal celebration.
The 30-year-old Swedish veteran pulled off her own surge to the finish to win the 100 freestyle for the second gold of her brilliant career.
Sjöström had pared down her program at the last two world championships, swimming only the 50 freestyle. She decided to add the 100 at the Paris Games, and boy did that decision pay off.
Sjöström was only fourth at the turn but kicked into another gear on the return lap, touching in 52.16 seconds. The U.S. team settled 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 at 52.33, edging Australia’s Mollie O’Callaghan by one-hundredth of a second.
Paris Olympics
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It was the fifth Olympic medal overall for Sjöström, who first competed at the 2008 Beijing Games where Phelps won a record eight golds. Her previous gold came in the 100 butterfly at the Rio de Janiero in 2016.
This victory might be the sweetest of all. She gasped in disbelief and pounded the water when she saw her time and, more important, the number beside it.
She was again an Olympic champion.
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AP Summer Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/2024-paris-olympic-games