French swimmer Leon Marchand makes history with two individual gold medals in one night

Leon Marchand‘s bid for a pair of Wednesday gold medals at the 2024 Paris Olympics was a smashing success as the Frenchman’s late surge pushed him past Kristof Milak for gold in the 200m butterfly final, and he waltzed to the top spot 90 minutes later in the 200m breaststroke final.

Marchand leaned on the lane line after his fly win and waved his pointer finger cyclically to celebrate a 1:51.21, just ahead of Hungary’s 2022 world champ Milak and his 1:51.75. Canada’s Ilya Kharun won bronze with a 1:52.80.

200m FLY RESULTS | 200m BREAST RESULTS

He later dominated the breaststroke event, swimming a 2:05:85 to beat contenders Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia (2:06:79) and Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands (2:07.90). American swimmer Josh Matheny finished seventh with a 2:09.52.

Marchand is the fourth swimmer to win two individual gold medals in the same day. The feat was last accomplished in 1976 by Kornelia Ender of East Germany.

The Paris-born Marchand, 22, won his first gold medal in his second Olympics when France claimed the 400m medley earlier these Games. With his count standing at three golds, he’s already broken the record for most career gold medals for a French swimmer. 

Marchand is the 2023 world champion in 200m fly and was up against the world-record holder in Milak. Both men won their respective semifinal heats, with Milak posting the top time, 0.78 seconds faster than Marchand.

Marchand got a little bit of good fortune in the breaststroke as China’s world-record holder, Qin Haiyang, did not qualify for the final.

Marchand will go for his fourth of these Games in the 200m individual medley on Thursday.