Comparisons to Michael Phelps were not far-fetched at all when it comes to Leon Marchand. They certainly were not a burden for the 22-year-old Frenchman, who on Wednesday completed one of the most audacious doubles in swimming history, winning the 200m butterfly and the 200m breaststroke about two hours apart in front of a home crowd cheering his every stroke.
Two grueling races. Two very different strokes. Two Olympic records. Two gold medals.
Phelps completed several doubles of his own while claiming a record eight golds at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
Photo: Reuters
“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.”
Thrilling the French fans and claiming the spotlight even on a night when Katie Ledecky of the US romped to another gold medal, Marchand notched his second and third victories at La Defense Arena and stamped himself — with the Olympics not even a week old — as one of the faces of the Games.
Ledecky claimed her seventh individual Olympic gold medal — she also has a relay gold — and 12th medal overall with a runaway victory in the 1,500m freestyle.
Photo: Reuters
After rallying to defeat world-record holder and defending Olympic champion Kristof Milak in the 200m butterfly with a finishing kick for the ages, Marchand made it look easy in the 200m breaststroke.
He led all the way, touching in 2 minutes, 5.85 seconds 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.
Trailing most of the way in the fly, Marchand surged past the Hungarian Milak on the final lap to finish with an Olympic record of 1:51.71, touching first by just by 0.04 seconds.
Marchand’s final lap was nearly 0.66 seconds faster than anyone else in the field — and 1.26 seconds 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.”
The bronze went to Canada’s Ilya Kharun.
After a boisterous rendition of La Marseillaise and receiving his gold, Marchand hustled back to the practice pool.
He blew away the field in the 200m breaststroke with an Olympic record of 2:05.85.
Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook claimed silver in 2:06.79, while the bronze went to Casper Corbeau of the Netherlands.
“I’m so very proud of him,” said his coach, American Bob Bowman, who was also Phelps’ coach. “That’s a tremendous, historic effort.”
WALKING
Reuters, PARIS
Brian Pintado of Ecuador yesterday pulled away from the field over the final kilometer to capture gold in the men’s 20km race walk at the Paris Olympics, crossing the finish line in a time of 1 hour, 18 minutes, 55 seconds.
Caio Bonfim of Brazil raced to silver in 1:19.09, while Alvaro Martin of Spain was third in 1:19.11 as the Olympics athletics competitions began.
The lead changed hands numerous times in a tight lead group of 15 walkers through the first 13km, but the group started to spread out at the 15km mark.
The top four had pulled away from the field by the final lap.
The Ecuadoran shook two fists in celebration after crossing the finish line.
The course was a 1km loop along the Pont d’Alene and under the Eiffel Tower.
SPRINTING
AFP, WELLINGTON
The Solomon Islands has nominated a marathon runner to compete in women’s 100m Olympic heats today — to the surprise of the Pacific nation’s sprint champion.
Distance runner and two-time Olympian Sharon Firisua has not run the 100m in top-level competition, but was named to sprint alongside the world’s best at the Stade de France.
The Solomon Islands Athletics Federation had recommended two sprinters take up wild-card spots at the Games.
Instead, the country’s Olympic committee named 30-year-old Firisua, a national 1,500m champion who finished 72nd in the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics, but failed to qualify for her chosen event this time round.
The decision was a “shock,” Solomon Islands Athletics Federation president Michael Kuali told Australian broadcaster ABC.
Firisua’s nomination drew the wrath of 22-year-old Solomon’s 100m and 200m champion Jovita Arunia, who had dreamed of running in Paris.
“We’re the sprinters. I don’t know what went wrong, it’s unbelievable,” Arunia told ABC.
The country’s Olympic committee did not respond to a request for comment.
Arunia threatened to quit athletics over the decision.
“I will not compete anymore because of what they did,” she said.
The New Taipei Kings claimed the inaugural Taiwan Professional Basketball League (TPBL) championship on Sunday, defeating the Kaohsiung FamilyMart Aquas 108-89 in the final. Playing at home, the Kings pulled ahead with Jeremy Lin’s (林書豪) clutch three-pointers, securing their victory over the Aquas in the TPBL final. The Kings came out strong in the first quarter, dominating to build a 35-18 lead. By halftime, they had stretched their advantage to 61-38. In the third quarter, the Aquas narrowed the deficit to 12 points, but Lin stepped up, sinking several tough three- pointers to extend the lead. In the final quarter, the Kings pushed the
In an unlikely Ethiopian outpost of one the most French of pastimes, four men are leaning over their petanque balls, arguing over who is winning. Petanque, the bowling game also known as boules, is more readily associated with French village squares where locals launch metal balls at a jack while enjoying an afternoon drink, but for decades, it has also been a beloved pastime for members of a club near the iconic Meskel Square in the Ethiopian capital, Addis Ababa. It was founded in the early 20th century to cater to French railway workers, who built a line connecting Addis Ababa
Taiwanese women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei and Australian teenager Maya Joint on Tuesday eased into the Eastbourne Open quarter-finals in England as Hsieh prepares for the Wimbledon Championships next week. Four-time Wimbledon women’s doubles champion Hsieh and 19-year-old Joint fired two aces and converted five of eight break points to defeat Japan’s Shuko Aoyama and Poland’s Katarzyna Piter 6-3, 6-3 in 58 minutes on the grass court. Hsieh and Joint are today to face fourth seeds Barbora Krejcikova of the Czech Republic and Latvia’s Jelena Ostapenko, who advanced on Monday with a 6-4, 6-3 victory over Quinn Gleason of the US and
BEAT THE HEAT: A brutal heat wave in the US has made cooling breaks standard. Dortmund’s coach said the weather could shape the destiny of the tournament Chelsea on Tuesday beat Esperance of Tunisia 3-0 to set up a FIFA Club World Cup last-16 tie against SL Benfica, who earlier defeated Bayern Munich 1-0, as furnace-link heat and the threat of thunder and lightning wreak havoc at the tournament. Elsewhere, minnows Auckland City claimed a memorable draw against Boca Juniors, while Los Angeles bowed out of the tournament with a stalemate against Flamengo. In Charlotte, Andreas Schjelderup scored the only goal for Benfica in their Group C clash with Bayern in front of 33,287 fans, finishing first-time from a cutback by his fellow Norwegian Fredrik Aursnes in the 13th
RSS