NANTERRE, France — Lilly King qualified for her last individual final at an Olympic Games. Josh Matheny finished seventh in his first Olympic final.
So it was a big night for breaststrokers from Indiana University.
Not that anything is comparable to Leon Marchand at the Paris Olympics.
In the 200-meter breaststroke Wednesday, King was sixth out of two semifinals in 2:23.25, or .51 behind third.
Katie Douglass overtook South Africa’s Tatjana Smith, the defending champion and 100-meter breaststroke gold medalist, to post the top time of 2:19.74. Smith was next in 2:19.94.
Tes Schouten of the Netherlands was fourth in 2:22.74 and Kaylene Corbett, another South African, fifth in 2:23.13.
King, 27, finished fourth in the 100 breaststroke Monday. At the 2021 Tokyo Olympics, she took silver in the 200 breaststroke behind Smith.
She has said this would be her last Olympics. Thursday’s final won’t be her last Olympic swim, because she will be in the lineup for the 4x100 medley relay.
In the men’s final, Leon Marchand took his second gold medal and second Olympic record of the night. After coming from behind to win the 200 butterfly, he led all the way to win the 200 breaststroke in 2:05.85, beating defending champion Zac Stubblety-Cook of Australia.
Michael Phelps, an analyst for NBC Sports, called Marchand’s achievement the “greatest double in the history of the sport.”
Josh Matheny could hear the crowd and feel the emotion. Third at 50 meters, he had a time of 2:09.52.
“That was the first time being in the same heat with Leon, and it was something,” Matheny said. “It felt like almost a college football atmosphere out there whenever he walked out. It’s cool to be a part of that.
“It’ll definitely go down in history as one of the loudest crowds at a swim meet.”
Marchand led Arizona State to the team championship in March’s NCAA Championships at Indianapolis. He is coached by Bob Bowman, who also coached Phelps, winner of 23 Olympic gold medals.
Marchand, 22, has won three golds in Paris and will be a prohibitive favorite in the 200 individual medley.
Elsewhere Wednesday, Notre Dame’s Chris Guiliano was eighth in the 100 freestyle in 47.98. He had previously won a gold medal in the 4x100 freestyle relay and a silver in the 4x200 freestyle relay.
China’s Pan Zhang won the gold medal by nearly a full second, an astonishing margin in such a short race. The 19-year-old lowered his own world record to 46.40 from 46.80 at February’s World Championships in Doha.
Australia’s Kyle Chalmers was second in 47.48. He won a medal in the 100 freestyle for a third successive Olympics, having taken gold in 2016 and silver in 2021.
Contact WTHR correspondent David Woods at dwoods1411@gmail.com. Follow him on Twitter: @DavidWoods007.