Sun Devil Olympic Update: Marchand Gets Gold Twice, Kharun Gets Bronze in 200m Fly

Here is a Sparky Olympic update for Wednesday, July 31... 

MEN'S SWIMMING
On Wednesday both Léon Marchand and Ilya Kharun made history in the pool, Marchand became the first French swimmer to win multiple gold medals in the same Olympic games, and he became the first swimmer to win medals in the butterfly and the breaststroke in front of his home country, setting Olympic records in both races.

In his first race of the day, it came down to the final 50m meters of the 200m fly, Marchand put together a magnificent charge to overtake Hungarian swimmer Milak Kristof, coming home to gold in 28.97. It's Marchand's second Olympic record of the week, breaking Kristof Milak's (1:51.25) record set in the Tokyo Olympics.

Less than two hours after his triumphant comeback, Marchand led wire-to-wire in the 200m breaststroke, pulling away from the field after the 100m mark to finish in a record-breaking 2:05.85, his third Olympic record of the week for his third gold medal.

"I had two gold medals in two hours, that is quite incredible." said Léon Marchand.

In his first career Olympics, Sun Devil sophomore Ilya Kharun secured the bronze medal, finishing in 1:52.80 for his first Olympic medal and the first medal in history for Canada in the 200m fly all while breaking a Canadian record in the process. In his freshman year alone, he became an NCAA Individual national champion in the 200y fly, and was part of the 400y medley relay team that won an NCAA championship and set an NCAA record. 

For Marchand, he has one more event remaining this week, racing in the 200m IM heats which starts at around 2:47 a.m. AZT/11:47 CEST (Paris Time) to attempt to qualify for Thursday evening's semifinal. 

WOMEN'S TENNIS
(From Wednesday, July 31st) Alumna Desirae Krawczyk and her partner Danielle Collins fell in the second round of Women's double's play at Roland Garros, falling to the Ukrainian pair of Nadiia and Lyudmyla Kichenock in a third-set tiebreaker, 6-4, 4-6, (7-10). It's Krawczyk's first Olympics representing Team USA after winning three grand slams in her career in mixed doubles, and being ranked 12th in the world in doubles play. 

(From Tuesday, July 30) Sun Devil alumna Desirae Krawczyk kicked off her Olympic campaign playing alongside Danielle Collins in the opening round of Women's doubles play at Roland Garros, defeating the Greece team of Despoina Papamichail and Maria Sakkari, 6-1, 6-3 to move into tomorrow's second round, where the duo will play the Ukrainian pair of Nadiia and Lyudmyla Kichenok set for 3 a.m. AZT/12:00 p.m. CEST which can be seen on Peacock.

MEN'S BASKETBALL
Sun Devil Men's Basketball product Luguentz Dort (2018-19/one season) and Team Canada are 2-0 in group play at the 2024 Paris Olympics. Canada defeated Greece 86-79 in the opening game of Group A. Dort started the game and scored eight points on 2-of-4 shooting while adding four rebounds and two assists. He was also effective on the defensive end, finishing with a steal and a block. In game two of group play, Canada took down Australia 93-83 to move to 2-0 at the Olympic Games. Dort earned another start and came through with 11 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He added two assists and was Canada was a +15 when he was on the court. Dort made his biggest impact on the defensive end, collecting three steals and limiting the Aussie back court. Thanks to their 2-0 start, Canada has already clinched a spot in the quarterfinal round. They can win Group A when they take on Spain on Friday Aug. 2 at 8:15 AM MST. 

WOMEN'S BASKETBALL
Promise Amukamara (2012-15/four seasons) scored 10 points of her 14 points (10-10 FTs) in the final 4:22 to help Nigeria capture its first win in women's basketball at the Olympics since 2004 in a 75-62 triumph over Australia on Monday. Amukamara, who also dished out nine assists to go with six rebounds and four steals, hit a pair of free throws to extend Nigeria's lead to 60-56 with 4:22 remaining. Ultimately, Amukamara's free throws ignited a 17-6 run by Nigeria to end the game. Up next for Nigeria is a contest against the host country France on Thursday (8:15 am AZ time/5:15 p.m. in Paris).