Léon Marchand (widely regarded as the ‘next Michael Phelps’) may have just given the world a glimpse of his next Olympic challenge. After dominating an event that was never considered his specialty, the French superstar is now contemplating an even bigger LA28 program.

Marchand’s latest experiment came at the 2026 European Championships in Paris, where he stunned the field in the 400m freestyle. The four-time Olympic champion touched in 3:43.14, finishing almost a second and a half ahead of Oliver Papai, while Olympic champion Lukas Märtens settled for third.

It was not simply another gold medal for Marchand. It was a statement that his range may be expanding.

“I think I’ve found my thing! I really want to keep building on this momentum in freestyle. I want that for Los Angeles—why not?” Marchand said after his recent freestyle performances.

Get the EssentiallySports Daily Newsletter. Stay ahead of the game with daily updates, exclusive stories, expert takes, and the biggest moments from the world's most popular sports.

He never explicitly said six golds are the target at LA 2028. But with two new events now on his radar and four events already carrying his defending-champion status, the six-gold possibility is becoming hard to ignore

That possibility could completely reshape Marchand’s Olympic ambitions. At Paris 2024, he became only the fourth swimmer in Olympic history to win four individual gold medals at a single Games, taking victories in the 200m individual medley, 400m individual medley, 200m butterfly, and 200m breaststroke.

Now, freestyle could become another piece of his Olympic puzzle. His performance in Paris suggested he has plenty of room to grow. Marchand admitted that he has been working on the 400m freestyle for around two years, rather than suddenly discovering the event.

“The 400m freestyle was amazing, I really enjoyed it, and I went out very fast,” he told Olympics.com in a previous interview.

He also explained that his versatility comes naturally from training across multiple strokes and distances.

“I just try to enjoy myself as much as possible,” Marchand said. “In training, I swim a bit of everything, so when I’m able to do things like this in competition, it’s really cool.”

There is, however, one major name standing between Marchand and a potential freestyle takeover.

David Popovici already owns the Olympic 200m freestyle crown, and the Romanian has made it clear that he would welcome Marchand entering his territory.

After Marchand produced a stunning 1:43.76 over the 200m freestyle, placing him sixth on the all-time performers list, Popovici saw the potential immediately.

“The rivalry between me and him could be really nice,” Popovici said, adding that Marchand is “one of the only guys who can really put up a big challenge.”

That prospect makes Marchand’s LA28 plans even more intriguing. He would not simply be adding another event; he could be stepping into a discipline already ruled by one of swimming’s biggest young stars.

Yet Marchand still has decisions to make. A nagging adductor issue forced him to skip the breaststroke and individual medley events at his home European Championships. He said he wants to see how the injury develops and how he feels about breaststroke before finalising his future schedule.

He will also use the Beijing meet in December as another checkpoint. For now, though, his freestyle experiment is gathering speed.

Perhaps nobody understands better what Marchand could become than the swimmer whose legacy he has already begun to reshape.

What does Michael Phelps have to say about Marchand’s rapid rise?

Michael Phelps spent years setting records that seemed almost untouchable. Then Marchand arrived.

The Frenchman broke Phelps’ 400m individual medley world record at the 2023 World Aquatics Championships in Fukuoka, ending a mark that had survived for two decades. Phelps had been following Marchand’s development through their shared coach, Bob Bowman, and was hardly surprised when the record finally fell.

“I knew Leon was going to break my record. It was just a matter of time,” Phelps said.

The connection between the two goes beyond numbers. Both have worked under Bowman, both have built their careers around versatility, and both have relied heavily on underwater efficiency to separate themselves from the field.

Marchand has also spoken about studying Phelps’ technique, particularly his underwater work. After breaking the record, Phelps encouraged him not to stop there.

“Yes, you can go even faster than that,” Phelps told him.

Phelps became synonymous with collecting gold medals across multiple events at the Olympics. Marchand has already shown that he can follow a similar path. If he eventually adds both the 200m and 400m freestyle to his LA28 program, the Frenchman could be looking at a schedule worthy of comparison with his legendary predecessor.

Six individual gold medals would be an enormous challenge. Nothing has been promised yet.

But Marchand has already done something that makes the possibility difficult to ignore: he has made an event outside his traditional comfort zone look like another place where he belongs.