Four swims, four new Olympic golds. Indeed, a major highlight of the swimming events in Paris included the French Golden Boy Leon Marchand hitting the ‘reset’ button nearly every time he stepped into the La Defense Arena. Last night, the air of his home soil and the electrifying chants of “Allez les Blues” pumped him to surpass yet another benchmark. 1:54.06—that’s all it took for him to exert his dominance and wipe Michael Phelps’ timing off the slate, one that stood for 16 years and 4 Olympic cycles. You ask, was his coach, Bob Bowman, happy?

Well, he probably felt Marchand ran out of gas 0.06 seconds too early, falling short of Ryan Lochte’s world record. Post-Marchand’s swim, Bowman looked at the timing displayed and mouthed “oh f***” when he saw that Marchand just missed the WR by six hundredths. However, Bowman’s instincts say that the world is yet to see a lot more of the Marchand magic in the future. “I think he can break (records) in other events,” Bowman remarked as he spoke to the NBC Olympics, hinting that Marchand could also look to diversify his swimming events.

Evidently, the coach and his trainee will soon be shooting for the stars. To this end, Bowman has already locked in a target for the training. Referring to how Marchand missed the 200m Individual Medley world record by a hair, the coach mentioned, “He gave me some ammunition for the whole next year by not breaking that one. So now we have a goal, right? We have things to work toward.” Thus, possibly more historical feats from this duo are on the way in the future.

Going forward, Bowman appears to have high expectations from Marchand. But Bowman, who was Michael Phelps’ former coach, is equally proud and has great faith in Marchand’s skills.

Is Bob Bowman’s praise for Leon Marchand a snub to Phelps?

One after another, Bowman has honed his star pupils, notching them up to the highest swimming ranks. First, Michael Phelps, and now, Marchand, who had first approached Bowman by writing a mere email. But it seems his accomplishments have cranked up Bowman’s confidence in him a notch. After his 400m IM Olympic record, Bowman’s remarks were notable. “He’s the best in this event in history,” Bowman mentioned with a beaming face, placing his student on a sky-high pedestal.

What’s even better? Marchand tossed the existing numbers in front of a packed home crowd, who were only so happy to witness the magic unfurl. One of them was the all-time great Michael Phelps, who gave Marchand a solid shoutout. “All records are meant to be broken,” Phelps’ mentioned as he witnessed Marchand carrying the ball forward. Later, he even appreciated the self-belief that Marchand portrayed. While Bowman believes Marchand can further show versatility and clutch more titles, do you think he can? Let us know below.

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