A record night of the greats in the Paris pool

PARIS – French poster boy Leon Marchand and American distance dynamo Katie Ledecky made history on July 31, while the Paris pool saw its first world record on one of the great nights of Olympic swimming.

China’s Pan Zhanle ended the programme with a firecracker, the 19-year-old teenager obliterating his own 100m freestyle world record to take his country’s first swimming gold of the meet.

Before that, Marchand sent sound levels off the scale at Paris La Defense Arena as he pulled off an unprecedented 200m butterfly and breaststroke double – with a medal ceremony in between.

Both his swims were completed in Olympic record time, a remarkable feat in two of the most tiring and demanding disciplines. Until July 31, no swimmer had managed to medal in both.

“It was pretty crazy to have the chance to be in the final in both races,” the 22-year-old said.

“And then I just loved it, it was huge. I’ve fulfilled a lot of dreams since I’ve been here. Doing this double was also something I felt capable of, but to really do it in the real world is something else.”

With passion, patriotic pride and raw emotion bursting out on all sides, Marchand soaked up the pressure and delivered what even the hype had suggested might be too much. Even United States great Michael Phelps, whose coach Bob Bowman now works with the Frenchman, did not achieve that with his mighty wingspan.

The winner of last weekend’s individual medley started with an incredible comeback in the butterfly after Hungarian world record holder and reigning champion Kristof Milak led for the first three lengths.

The five-gold world champion won in 1min 51.21sec, while Milak (1:51.75) had to settle for silver, with Canada’s Ilya Kharun (1:52.80) taking bronze.

With the crowd chanting his name at every stroke – “Leon, Leon” echoed around the arena – Marchand returned to lead every metre of the breaststroke before touching the wall in 2:05.85.

Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook, the 2021 champion in Tokyo, had to settle for silver in 2:06.79 while Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands took the bronze in 2:07.90.

Pan, meanwhile, enjoyed a “magic moment” after smashing his own 100m free world record with a 46.40sec effort. It beat the 46.80sec he had set in February.

Australia’s Kyle Chalmers (47.48sec) took silver, with Romanian David Popovici (47.49sec) the bronze.

“I was very surprised that I broke the record,” said Pan, who only made the semi-final by 0.06sec and failed to make it out of the 200m freestyle heats.

Ledecky also seized her chance to shine, although the win was never really in doubt, as she retained her 1,500m freestyle title for a record-equalling eighth gold in 15:30.02.

She was half a pool length and 10.33sec clear of Frenchwoman Anastasiia Kirpichnikova with Germany’s Isabel Gose taking bronze (15:41.16).

The American now shares the record for most Olympic golds in women’s swimming with compatriot Jenny Thompson, who won eight relay titles over three Olympics from 1992 to 2000.

Her 12th medal also matched the all-time record shared by Thompson, Americans Dara Torres and Natalie Coughlin, and Australian Emma McKeon.

Ledecky became the first female swimmer to stand at the top of the podium at four Olympics as well, something only male compatriots Phelps and Ryan Lochte have managed.

“It’s not easy, it doesn’t get any easier, so I do try to enjoy it each year. There’s different perspective... different challenges that you face each year in training and as you get older,” the 27-year-old said.

Another familiar name also returned to the top when evergreen Swede Sarah Sjostrom won the women’s 100m freestyle in 52.16sec – a race the sprint queen only decided to enter late in the day.

“I didn’t think I would swim the 100 free,” the 30-year-old said, after reeling in American Torri Huske (52.29sec) and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey (52.33sec).

“I was like... ‘I want to do the 50, I want to rest until the 50’, and he (her coach) was like, ‘No way, you need to go out there and see what you can do, no matter the outcome’.” REUTERS, AFP