Frenchman Leon Marchand back in pool hours after Phelps-like double gold performance
Fan favourite posts 3rd fastest time in qualifying for men's 200 IM semifinals in Paris
Hours after winning a pair of gold medals, French star swimmer Leon Marchand was back in the pool Thursday morning in front of his adoring fans.
The face of the Games so far for France, Marchand had a Michael Phelps-like performance Wednesday night. He chased down world-record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristof Milak to win the 200-metre butterfly in one minute 51.21 seconds, and then claimed the 200 breaststroke about two hours later in 2:05.85.
Marchand was back for the preliminary heats of the 200 individual medley Thursday. He swam easily and recorded the third fastest time to advance to the 3:47 p.m. ET semifinals.
Daiya Seto of Japan clocked 1:57.48 with Marchand third in 1:57.86.
Marchand has three gold medals in individual events in Paris.
That may complete his haul in Paris in front of adoring, chanting, flag-waving fans at the La Defense Arena. It's unclear if he will swim any relays for France, which is not considered a medal contender in those events.
Getting the fourth gold might be the easy part. His American coach Bob Bowman — he coached Phelps to 23 Olympic gold medals — knows the next phase may be more demanding for the 22-year-old.
Michael Phelps - watching the man, Leon Marchand - who is breaking most of his records.<br><br>Interesting to compare this, to the reaction of how 99 percent of WNBA players and coaches have treated Caitlin Clark this year 🤔 <a href="https://t.co/ciesXOcsr1">pic.twitter.com/ciesXOcsr1</a>
—@Aaron_Torres"He's gotta survive the success," Bowman said after Wednesday's two-gold haul. "He's gotta come out of what's next, and he has no idea."
Bowman coached Marchand at Arizona State before moving on to coach Texas. Marchand turned pro and followed Bowman to Austin, and the coach says he'll have to deal with a new level of attention from sponsors and fans back home.
"I know exactly what's next," Bowman said. "Find his way back to a pool in Austin, Texas, and go start going up and down it. That will be the challenge."
WATCH l Canada's Kharun swims to butterfly bronze in Paris behind Marchand:
Phelps did several doubles of his own while claiming a record eight gold 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."
After rallying to beat Milak 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 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.
"Leon! Leon! Leon!" they screamed, a chant that was sure to carry on through the night in Paris.
Trailing most of the way in the 200 fly, Marchand surged past Milak on the final lap to finish with an Olympic record, touching first by just by 54-100ths of a second.
Marchand's final lap was nearly 0.66 faster than anyone else in the field, and 1.26 clear of Milak.
"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."
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.
"I'm so very proud of him," said Bowman. "That's a tremendous, historic effort."
WATCH l Kharun looks back at historic medal:
With files from Paul Newberry, The Associated Press
