Does Marchand have a shot at chasing down Phelps?

The Frenchman threatened the legendary American’s longstanding 400m individual medley mark at the World Championships. Born to world-class swimmers and coached by Phelps’ former mentor, the 20-year-old is leaving nothing to chance in his pursuit of the world record

Leon Marchand has been making waves in swimming circles for a couple of years now, but if he continues to do what he did at the World Championships in Budapest, he has the potential to become a global star.

The 20-year-old Frenchman registered the second-fastest time in the history of the men’s 400m individual medley (IM) — the closest anyone has got to Michael Phelps’ 4:03.84 in 10 years — to win his first World title.

Indeed, after a ferocious third leg in the breaststroke, Marchand was inside world record pace before fading slightly in the freestyle to stop the clock at 4:04.28, the fastest time in a textile suit.

The record he is chasing has an aura. It is the oldest in any Olympic distance, and was set by the legendary Phelps, widely considered the greatest swimmer of all time, at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, a day before he helped set the second-oldest record in the 400m freestyle relay.

So, the fact that Marchand threatened it so early in his career has excited swimming fans.

“Now I can call myself a good swimmer,” he said. “I really didn’t think I would swim 4:04. I hit the wall and saw the little light that said we were first. It’s really huge, a ‘wow’ feeling. I still don’t realise what I did. I was struggling a little bit in the crawl. But I think next time I could do it.”

If anybody were to have a chance of ‘doing it’, you would struggle to pick a swimmer better equipped than Marchand.