By Billie Eder and Tom Decent
Four-time Olympic gold medallist Leon Marchand, the French swimmer hailed as the next Michael Phelps, will head Down Under in 2025 to train with Australian coach Dean Boxall.
Marchand, who became the fourth swimmer in history to win four individual gold medals at a single Olympics during his home Games in Paris this year, said he would be arriving in Australia in January to train for two or three months.
Leon Marchand, of France, celebrates after winning the men’s 400-meter individual medley final at the 2024 Olympics.Credit: AP
Sources familiar with the situation speaking on the condition of anonymity confirmed to the Herald that Marchand would be linking with Boxall in the new year at the St Peters Western club in Brisbane.
“I’m going to try to change swimming, discipline,” Marchand said. “Try to travel a bit more, do other things, meet people from different cultures, et cetera.
“So, official announcement, I have planned to go to Australia in January for two, three months. I’m going to try and see a different culture, to train with a different coach, and after I’ll join [regular coach] Bob Bowman in Austin during the year.”
Boxall famously coached 10 Australian swimmers to the 2024 Olympics, with gold medal winners Ariarne Titmus and Mollie O’Callaghan among his most successful charges.
Dean Boxall at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.Credit: Getty Images
Marchand, a breaststroke and butterfly specialist, is likely to be focussing on freestyle with Boxall. With Paris behind him, the 22-year-old said now was a good time to get a fresh perspective.
“To breathe. To see other things. I met with my coach Bob Bowman just now, he thought it was good to see another side of training,” Marchand said.
“It’s good timing. I have four years to prepare for Los Angeles. I have the time. I can surf, make the most of Australia, and it’s going to change me a bit.”
Italian swimmer and Olympic gold medallist Thomas Ceccon will also head to Australia to train under Boxall.
Bowman, who is the director of swimming and diving at the University of Texas, was the man who coached 23-time Olympic gold medallist Michael Phelps.
The son of two Olympic swimmers, Marchand sent France into a frenzy during the Games when he won two gold medals in 118 minutes, and by the end of his Olympic campaign had won gold in the 200m breaststroke, 200m butterfly, 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, and a bronze in the 4x100m medley relay in Paris.
The Frenchman’s medal haul mirrored that of Phelps in Athens 20 years earlier, and Bowman didn’t shy away from the comparison when asked during the Games.
“Well, it is similar, right? They are both performing on this high level,” Bowman said. “Leon joins Michael in that very rare club of people who, when the pressure is higher, they perform better. There have been a lot of great swimmers. He is certainly one of the greats.”
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