Under the guidance of Phelps’ former coach, Leon Marchand has beaten Olympic winners, broken the NCAA record held by Caleb Dressel, and achieved national records and also surpassed one of Michael Phleps’ records. He is now aiming for the Olympic gold medal in Paris in 2024.

Olympic hosts France have discovered a potential world-beating swimmer in Leon Marchand two years before the Paris 2024 Games.

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But most importantly Marchand has also broken Michael Phelps’ record in the 400 metres individual medley.

In the men’s 400-meter individual medley on Sunday, French prodigy Leon Marchand broke Michael Phelps’ final personal best from his historic Hall of Fame swimming career to set the world record.

With a timing of 4:2:50 seconds in the global championships in Fukuoka, southwest Japan, Marchand won the gold medal. That beat Phelps’ previous record from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, which stood at 4:03.84, by over two years.

Who is Leon Marchand?

Léon Marchand, a French swimmer who competes for the Arizona State Sun Devils swim team. He holds the long course 200-metre individual medley, 200-metre butterfly, and 200-metre breaststroke French records in addition to the long course 400-metre individual medley world record.

Léon was born in May 2002. He is the son of Xavier Marchand and Céline Bonnet, two former French medley swimmers. A sophomore majoring in computer science at Arizona State University, Leon is now fully focused on swimming.

When USA Swimming GOAT (Greatest of All Times) Michael Phelps congratulated the French prodigy on his Instagram stories, the story received even more steam.

Marchand, who was dissatisfied with earning just one NCAA championship, later won the men’s 200-metre breaststroke event to further establish himself as one of the most promising young swimmers in the world.

He has it in genes. His father, Xavier Marchand, won the 200m medley silver at the 1998 World Championships in Perth, Australia. He also competed at the Atlanta 1996 and Sydney 2000 Olympics. His mother Celine Bonnet competed in the backstroke and medley events.

His uncle Christophe Marchand competed in the freestyle and medley events at the Seoul 1988 and Barcelona 1992 Games.

Marchand realized swimming might be his profession in 2019, after taking home the bronze in the 400 medley at the Junior World Championships in Budapest.

Thanks to the coronavirus-forced delay to the Tokyo 2020 Olympics, the prodigy was able to physically mature before competing against the greatest in the world on the largest platform of all in swimming.