NANTERRE, France (AP) — If there's anyone who can appreciate the magnitude of what Léon Marchand has done at the Paris Olympics, it's Bob Bowman.
The longtime coach was on deck for Michael Phelps' entire career, which gave him a front-row seat for improbable feats such as breaking world records in two different events about an hour apart and winning eight gold medals at a single Summer Games.
It's too soon to call Marchand another Phelps — after all, the Frenchman still trails the most decorated Olympian ever in the gold medal table 23-3.
But it's hardly a stretch to say Marchand's performance at La Defense Arena was downright Phelps-like.
In the space of about two hours Wednesday night, Marchand won gold medals using two very different strokes, both times with the defending champion from the Tokyo Games in the lane next to him.
“I’m so very proud of him,” Bowman said of his latest star pupil. “That’s a tremendous, historic effort. It just shows the incredible work that he’s done for many years to get here.”
With the same sort of precision that Bowman use to chart out for Phelps, Marchand rallied on the final lap to beat world-record holder and 2021 gold medalist Kristóf Milák in the 200-meter butterfly with an Olympic-record time, hustled to the practice pool for a warm down, returned to the deck for the medal ceremony, disappeared again to begin prepping for his next race, then blew away the field — including defending champ Zac Stubblety-Cook — to claim gold in the 200 breaststroke while setting another Olympic record..
Whew!
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