Paris Olympics: French swimmer Marchand takes historic double within 2 hours

Paris, Aug 1
French superstar Leon Marchand stunned reigning champion Zac Stubblety-Cook to take his second Olympic gold medal in a day with an Olympic record time of 2:05.85 in the 200m breaststroke at Paris Games.

With his second gold, Marchand accomplished the rare feat of winning two golds in the same swimming session. In just two hours, he secured two gold medals, dethroned two reigning champions, and set two Olympic records.

This marked the first time since 1976 that a swimmer has won two gold medals in a single night at the Olympic Games.

The 22-year-old first overtook reigning champion and world record holder Kristof Milak of Hungary to claim the 200m butterfly title. Less than two hours later, he returned to the pool to dominate the 200m breaststroke, securing his third gold medal of the Games.

In the process, Marchand became the first French swimmer to ever win three gold medals, and he did it all within four days in front of an electric home crowd of over 15,000 at the Paris La Defense Arena.

Australia’s Stubblety-Cook entered the 200m breaststroke race as the reigning Olympic champion but secured the silver medal with a time of 2:06.79, finishing 0.94 seconds behind Marchand. It was Stubblety-Cook's record from Tokyo 2020 that the Frenchman broke on Wednesday night.

The Netherlands' Caspar Corbeau took bronze after clocking 2:07.90.