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Michael Phelps brought the hype as he watched Leon Marchand chase down defending Olympic champion Kristof Milak over the last 50 meters of the men’s 200 butterfly in Paris on Wednesday.
Marchand was .72 seconds behind Milak at the final turn before ripping a huge underwater to help erase the deficit en route to a new Olympic record of 1:51.21, in the process passing Phelps as the second-fastest performer ever in the event behind Milak (1:50.34 from 2022). It was the first half of a history double for Marchand, who took down reigning Olympic champion Zac Stubblety-Cook in the 200 breaststroke less than two hours later.
Phelps — whose coach, Bob Bowman, now trains Marchand — didn’t seem to mind another one of his times being surpassed by the 22-year-old French star. Check out his reaction below:
@nbcsports This Michael Phelps reaction is EVERYTHING! 👏 #ParisOlympics #swimming #reaction #france #gold
A 23-time Olympic champion across five Summer Games, Phelps also offered his expert analysis of the race once his celebration settled down.
“I would imagine Leon and Bob just talked about letting Milak go, kind of let him get out in the open water that first 100, and utilize that underwater coming off the 100 wall and the 150 wall,” Phelps said. “And when you see that 150 wall, he took 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 kicks — on his 11th kick, he’s breaking.
“So for me, in a 200 butterfly, that’s really hard,” he continued. “You’ve already swum 150 meters all out, and then you’re trying to rip an underwater. Your legs are shot, the lactic acid is building. But that’s what he has to do. He literally is the best underwater swimmer in the world, and he used his weapon that last 50 to pass the defending Olympic champion.”
@nbcolympics Michael Phelps analyzes Léon Marchand’s epic triumph to Olympic glory in the men’s 200m fly. #ParisOlympics #usa #swimming #race #analyst
Marchand is aiming for his fourth gold medal of the Paris Olympics on Friday in the 200 IM. Earlier this week, he broke Phelps’ Olympic record in the 400 IM with a winning time of 4:02.95, just off his own global standard of 4:02.50 that erased Phelps’ last individual world record at the 2023 World Championships in Fukuoka, Japan.
In an interview with the Pat McAfee Show, Phelps explained further why watching Marchand swim makes him so happy.
“For me, nobody believe that I was able to do the things that I was trying to do, right? But I did, deep down inside. And same thing for [Marchand],” Phelps said. “A lot of people said my records were never going to be broken and untouched, but clearly it’s not that. And for me, I love it. I love being able to see a young man have a dream, go out there, put in the work, and put together the pieces that give him a chance to do this… He and I have so many similarities.”
If it’s true what they say about Milak resuming proper training 6-7 months ago (after many months without swimming) and still missing many sessions, then he is the most talented swimmier on earth. His technique is awesome, and, in my opinion, he will win the 100m easily.
That’s a big “if” from only one side of the involved parties FYI…. I don’t recall Milak speaking publicly about this claim.
“most talented swimmer on earth”
Leon takes that crown.
He is the most talented by far, how can you blame him?
its so obvious that phelps wishes he was still competing
The last 10 meters were amazing by Leon. He really seemed to be flying with an extra gear. Extraordinary.
Nice to see a textile swim surpass a super-suited swim to make LM #2 performer. Milak wasn’t too far off – hope he gets back to serious training for the next WC.
Bro, this site needs to stop equivocating lzr leggings with full poly bodysuits when they call them super suits. Those leggings were really good compared to 2007 textile suits but it’s not 2007 anymore.
But yes, congrats to Leon for becoming the second fastest performer.
The suits now are more superior than the suit Phelps wore then lol casuals
Most swimmers who went PB’s in those didn’t break them either tho