Michael Phelps expresses his gratitude towards coach Bob Bowman for his impressive record at World Championships

Michael Phelps expressed his gratitude to his longtime coach, Bob Bowman, for his unparalleled achievement at the World Championships. Phelps enjoyed an illustrious career with multiple Olympic and World Championship medals and records.

The swimming legend has earned the title of most decorated Olympian, with 28 medals. He recently attributed his impressive record to coach Bowman after SwimSwam posted interesting data showing Phelps as the swimmer with the most world records set at a single edition of the World Swimming Championships.

He achieved the feat at the 2003 World Championships in Barcelona with five world records. Phelps broke the world records in 100m butterfly, 200m butterfly, twice in 200m IM, and 400m IM. The former swimmer clocked 51.47 seconds in the semifinal round of the 100m butterfly event to post a new world record. He achieved the same feat with 1:53.93 in the 200m butterfly semifinal.

Phelps posted another world record in the 200m IM in the semifinal with 1:57.52, which he later surpassed in the final round with 1:56.04. His last world record at the event was listed in the final of the 400m IM, where he clocked 4:09:09. He attributed the success to coach Bowman in his recent Instagram story and wrote:

"Good times @coach_bowman," and added a folded hands emoji.

Screenshot of Phelps' Instagram story.

Phelps also posted five world records at the 2007 Melbourne World Championships.

Michael Phelps once opened up about narrowly missing a world record

Michael Phelps at the 2025 SheBelieves Cup in Arizona. (Photo by Getty Images)

Michael Phelps posted a world record in the semifinal round of the 200m butterfly event at the 2003 World Championships. However, he fell short of achieving the same feat in the final round.

In his memoir, Michael Phelps: Beneath the Surface, originally published in 2004, the former swimmer reflected on the setback, stating he failed to follow the game plan set by his coach, Bob Bowman, in the final.

"The best way to swim the 200 fly, we figured, was to go out fast and hold on. I did exactly what we talked about and broke the world record in the semis, lowering it to 1:53.93. I didn’t quite keep to the gameplan in the final, when I trailed Ukraine’s Denis Sylant’yev at the first two walls, but I took over the lead with 80 meters to go and won the race by over a second," he wrote. "I came back faster than I had ever done (59.08 over the last 100 meters) in that event. It was a lesson learned to listen to your coach because he knows what he’s talking about," Phelps added.

Michael Phelps recorded 39 world records throughout his swimming career.

Edited by Samya Majumdar