France's Leon Marchand pulls Olympic feat not seen in nearly 50 years

France's Leon Marchand made Olympic history Wednesday as the first swimmer since East Germany's Kornelia Ender in 1976 to win two individual events in a single day.

Marchand first made an epic comeback to win the men's 200 butterfly and then not even two hours later he finished his night with gold in the 200 breaststroke breaking the Olympic record with a time of 2:05.85.

The convincing finish for Marchand in his final event of the night now makes him three-for-three in gold medals at these Paris Games. He won the men's 400 individual medley on Saturday.

American Olympic legend Michael Phelps told NBC's Mike Tirico he thought Marchand's feat on Wednesday was "the greatest double in our sport ever."

Marchand also became the first athlete, male or female, to win gold in both a butterfly and breaststroke event at the same Olympics, much less do it in the same day.

The Frenchman was a 2024 NCAA national champion at Arizona State under Phelps' old coach Bob Bowman.

Marchand will finish his Olympic program later this week with the men's 200 individual medley where he'll also be favored to win gold.