Roaring Leon bags Paris double

PARIS, France (AFP) — France’s Leon Marchand produced a dazzling double gold-medal winning performance to electrify the Paris Olympics, powering to victories in the 200-meter breaststroke and 200m butterfly to send the host nation into ecstatic celebrations.

The 22-year-old bagged his first gold of the night after summoning a lung-bursting late charge to claim the 200m fly, and then just under two hours later showed incredible reserves of stamina to motor home in the 200m breaststroke.

The back-to-back golds made Marchand — who won gold in the 400 individual medley earlier in the Games — the first swimmer to win the 200 fly and breaststroke in the same Olympics.

The five-time world champion, little known outside the world of swimming before the Olympics, has become a national hero in the space of a week with his trio of golds.

“I’ve fulfilled a lot of dreams since I’ve been here. Doing this double was something I felt I could do. But to really do it, that’s something else,” he said.

“Of course, I had a lot of doubts. Because everyone told me it wasn’t possible,” he said of the unprecedented double.”

While the 15,000 crowd at the La Defense Arena belted out a rousing rendition of La Marseillaise during the medal ceremonies, a smiling Marchand looked calm as he soaked up the adulation.

“I’m just trying to keep going. I really enjoyed every moment of those two finals. It was really amazing for me to swim those,” he said, after dethroning two defending champions.

For as powerful, focused and technically gifted as he is when racing, the prodigy from Toulouse is a relaxed, chilled, individual out of the pool, a winning combination that has earned him the hearts of a nation.

In the breaststroke, the 22-year-old touched the wall in a time of two minutes and 5.85 seconds, a new Olympic record and the second fastest time of all-time.

Australia’s Zac Stubblety-Cook, the defending champion from Tokyo, finished with silver 0.94 seconds behind with Caspar Corbeau of the Netherlands claiming bronze.

Remarkably the race was the first time Marchand had swum the 200m breaststroke in a major international competition but in his current form and with a deafening home crowd behind him, there was simply no stopping him as he led from start to finish.

But it was his astonishing victory in the butterfly which will live longest in the memory.

World record holder and defending champion Kristof Milak of Hungary led until the final lap when Marchand hunted him down.