Michael Phelps praises Bowman’s training group in Austin, Texas; yielding winning times at top international races
Michael Phelps praises Léon Marchand and Summer McIntosh’s training squad: “The group Bob Bowman built is insane”
Michael Phelps praises Léon Marchand and Summer McIntosh’s training squad: “The group Bob Bowman built is insane”
The 28-time Olympic medallist keeps up to date with the workout plans in his former coach’s training group and said he is not surprised they are yielding winning times at top international races.
Michael Phelps , the most decorated Olympian of all time, knows that the journey to the podium begins in the training pool. And it is fellow swimmers in that training group who can determine how smoothly that journey goes.
Having had his own share of stellar training mates, the USA swimming legend was still left in awe at the squad his former coach Bob Bowman has put together in Austin, Texas ahead of the LA28 Olympic Games .
The squad includes four-time Olympic champion Léon Marchand , three-time Olympic champion Summer McIntosh , and Olympic champions Hubert Kos and Regan Smith , among others.
“The group (Bowman) has built down there is insane,” Phelps told the media at the 2026 Pan Pacific Championships. “That’s a one of one training group . The kind of talent there and the back-to-back days they build up, the kind of times they’re doing, holy…”
Phelps shared that Bowman, who guided him to 23 Olympic gold medals between Sydney 2000 and Rio 2016 , sends him the workouts of his current squad so he is able to follow their progress.
“I’m not surprised to see (Marchand) go those times. I’m not surprised to see (McIntosh) go those times," Phelps said. “Bob sends me the workouts. Every day, they have someone to go toe-to-toe with and that’s only helping them to build confidence and to stand up (on the blocks) and say, ‘No one on the planet has outworked me’ .”
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“It’s a gauntlet you get to go through every single day ,” he continued. “It doesn’t matter who you are. Someone is going to step up and challenge you. For me, back in the day of the Michigan times, we had guys in backstroke, breaststroke, fly or free. It didn’t matter who they were, a college kid or a postgrad, they were going to step up and race.”
Phelps retired as a competitive swimmer after Rio 2016 at the age of 31 but continues to be involved in the sport.
He frequents competitions, like the recent Pan Pacific Championships and the World Aquatics Championships, and stays connected with the current generation of elite swimmers.
Michael Phelps Becomes a Swimming Phenomenon
The swimming phenomenon Michael Phelps went on to win four individual golds at the Athens 2004 Olympics. He captured the 200m individual medley gold medal in 1:57.14, setting new Olympic record. In the 400m individual medley, Michael received gold in world record time (4:08.26). He earned the butterfly 100m and 200m Olympic title in Olympic record time (51.25 seconds and 1:54.04 respectively). Michael Phelps (USA) - Swimming - Athens 2004