A Historic Evening of Legends in the Paris Pool

PARIS, July 31 (Reuters) — On a historic night at the Paris pool, French swimmer Léon Marchand and U.S. distance star Katie Ledecky made waves, with the first world record of the meet set by China’s Pan Zhanle.

Pan Zhanle made headlines by smashing his own world record in the 100 meters freestyle, securing China’s first swimming gold of the competition.

Earlier, Léon Marchand captivated the crowd at the La Défense Arena with an extraordinary performance, winning gold in both the 200 meters butterfly and 200 meters breaststroke—an unprecedented feat. Both events were completed in Olympic record times, a testament to Marchand’s endurance and skill. Until now, no swimmer had managed to medal in both events at the same Olympics.

“It was incredible to compete in both finals,” Marchand said. “I had high hopes for this double, and achieving it in reality is something else.”

Marchand’s performances were marked by his tenacity and the raucous support from the crowd, chanting his name throughout. In the 200 meters butterfly, he overcame Hungary’s Kristóf Milák, the reigning champion and world record holder, who finished with the silver. Canada’s Ilya Kharun took bronze.

In the 200 meters breaststroke, Marchand led from start to finish, clocking 2:05.85. Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook, the 2021 Tokyo champion, won silver, while Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands earned bronze.

In the men’s 100 meters freestyle, Australia’s Kyle Chalmers took silver behind Pan Zhanle, with Romania’s David Popovici finishing third.

Katie Ledecky successfully defended her 1,500 meters freestyle title, earning her eighth Olympic gold medal and equaling the record for the most Olympic golds in women’s swimming, previously held by Jenny Thompson, who won eight relay golds across three Olympics (1992-2000). Ledecky now has 12 Olympic medals, tying the all-time record shared by Thompson, Dara Torres, Natalie Coughlin, and Emma McKeon. She also became the first female swimmer to win gold at four different Olympics, joining Michael Phelps and Ryan Lochte in that exclusive club.

Sweden’s Sarah Sjöström, at 30, captured gold in the women’s 100 meters freestyle. Sjöström decided to enter the race late, initially planning to focus on the 50 meters freestyle. She defeated American silver medalist Torri Huske and Hong Kong’s Siobhan Haughey, who took bronze.

In the women’s 200 meters butterfly semifinals, Canada’s Summer McIntosh led ahead of Regan Smith of the United States and China’s Zhang Yufei. In the 200 meters breaststroke semifinals, American Kate Douglass was the fastest, followed by South Africa’s Tatjana Smith.

American Ryan Murphy, the 2016 Olympic champion, did not advance to the men’s 200 meters backstroke final after winning bronze in the 100 meters backstroke earlier in the competition.