Champion French swimmer Leon Marchand is heading to Australia to learn trade secrets from the best in business — legendary Aussie coach Dean Boxall.
Marchand, who emerged as Australia’s biggest threat in the pool with a whopping four golds at the Paris Olympics, has revealed he’ll be in Australia in January to train with Boxall for 2-3 months.
Boxall, of course, coaches Australian superstars such as Ariarne Titmus, Mollie O’Callaghan, Elijah Winnington, Shayna Jack, and more.
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In fact, he had 10 swimmers that made the Australian team for the Olympics.
Marchand revealed his plans at a swimming meet in Saint-Denis on Réunion Island (a French territory in the Indian Ocean) during the week.
He said he wanted to come to Australia to “breathe and see something else”.
“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, etc.
“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.
“I spoke with my coach. He thought it was good to see another way of training. It’s the right time.
“I have four years to prepare for Los Angeles. I have time, I’m going to be able to surf and enjoy Australia.”
Marchand said part of the reason he was heading to Boxall was because he wanted to put more focus into his freestyle.
O’Callaghan and Titmus are obviously freestyle guns, with the dynamic duo taking out gold and silver in the 200m freestyle final in Paris, while Titmus also won the gold in the 400m freestyle final (the event she also won in Tokyo).
Marchand has been dubbed the next Michael Phelps who won a record 28 Olympic medals, with 23 of those being gold in colour.
After Paris, Marchand headed to the World Cup in Singapore where he walked away with $174,000, a series title crown, and a world record in the 200 individual medley (1:48.88).
His gold medals at the Olympics were in the butterfly, the breaststroke, and the individual medley.
Boxall is obviously not doing anything wrong … but the move is certainly eyebrow-raising.
In September this year Swimming Australia sacked coach Michael Palfrey due to comments he made at the Olympics about a South Korean freestyle swimmer Kim Woo-min, whom he had coached.
Palfrey told Korean television he hoped South Korea’s Kim Woo-min would win the men’s 400m freestyle in Paris.
Australian duo Sam Short and Elijah Winnington were also competing in the final.
When Swimming Australia terminated Palfrey, they said he had breached his employment agreement.
“Palfrey was found to have breached his employment contract by bringing himself into disrepute and causing serious damage to his and Swimming Australia’s reputation, and adversely affecting Swimming Australia’s interests,” the statement said.
Palfrey retained his coach accreditation status, however.
Four months prior to the Olympic Games, all Australian swimming coaches and advisers were told to end their association with non-Australian swimmers.