Has Coach Bob Bowman Found the Successor to Michael Phelps?

Every prominent athlete who has made it big on the global stage has a coach behind them that has played a significant role in their success. And it was no different for the most decorated Olympian of all time. Michael Phelps, too, found his coach and mentor in Bob Bowman.

For the swimmer, Bowman was more than his coach. Growing up, the Olympian considered the coach as a father figure.

Has coach Bob Bowman found the successor to Michael Phelps

Michael Phelps retired from competitive swimming in 2016 following his fruitful performance at the Rio Games. Now, the decorated Olympian is trying his hand at golf. However, Bowman remained active in coaching prospective Olympians as the head coach of the Arizona State University swimming team.

Since 2016, the coach received little success in coaching swimmers, as none of them came close to making a mark in the sport as Phelps had previously done under Bowman’s guidance. However, he might be closer than ever to reclaiming the fame he once enjoyed.

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Recently, the coach started to coach the French team in Budapest. However, the one swimmer that stands out from the crowd is Leon Marchand. The athlete swam the second-fastest time in the 400m IM event at the 19th FINA World Championships Budapest.

At the meet, Marchand completed the event in a mere 4:04.28 to clinch the gold. It was an astonishing feat for the 20-year-old as no other swimmer had broken the 4 minutes 5 seconds barrier after Phelps broke the previous world record in the event at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Unable to conceal the surprise, Bowman remarked, “It’s such a big jump. I was thinking maybe 4:06 would be good. I didn’t think the record was untouchable, but I wasn’t sure it was going to get that close this soon.”

Can Leon Marchand outperform Phelps’ 400m IM world record?

Phelps was the one who held the record in the event previously with a time of 4:05:25. He clocked this time at the 2008 US Olympic trials. But he was able to better this time at the Beijing Games by 1.41 seconds after clocking 04:03.84 at the event.

Considering Phelps’ previous record, the young swimmer has already outperformed the time. However, the French swimmer must train further to surpass the Flying Fish’s world record in the IM event.

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With that said, Marchand is close to outdoing the Baltimore Bullet’s time. His time at the World Championships this year trailed by just 0.44 seconds. And with sufficient training and expert coaching from Phelps’ former coach, the swimmer should be able to achieve the feat soon.