2021 French Olympic Trials: Day 2 Prelims Live Recap

2021 FRENCH ELITE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, June 15 – Sunday, June 20, 2021
• Piscine de l’Odyssée, Chartres, France
• Long Course Meters (50M)
• Olympic Selection Event
• French Olympic Qualifying Procedures
• Meet Site (LIVE FFN)
• List of Entrants
• Live Results
• Television rights: beIN SPORTS

Day 2 of the 2021 French Elite Swimming Championships has arrived and today’s program will include another exciting slate of events including the women’s 100 back, men’s 50 breast, women’s 100 breast, men’s 100 back, women’s 400 free, and men’s 800 free.

Beryl Gastaldello is the top French entrant in the 100 backstroke and will be gunning for an Olympic-qualifying standard after missing the 100 fly cut on day 1 of racing. Meanwhile, in the men’s 100 back, it will be a battle between Mewen Tomac and Yohann Ndoye Brouard who have both been under the FINA A cut this season but will want to get under that cut here.

After no men got under the qualifying cut in the men’s 100 breast on day 1, Fanny Deberghes and Justine Delmas will both be hoping to push each other under the 1:07.07 FINA A. Deberghes is entered as top seed with a 1:08.60 while Delmas isn’t too far behind with a 1:08.83.

Catch all those race and more as we follow along live:

Women’s 100 Backstroke – Prelims

• French Record: 59.50 – Laure Manaudou (2007)
• Olympic Qualifying Standards: 1:02.06 in prelims and 1:00.25 in A-final

Beryl Gastaldello delivered a 1:01.33 morning swim which gets her under the morning qualifying standard of 1:02.06. The swim for her is a little bit off her PB from the 2015 World Championships of 1:00.07. She’ll need to get pretty close in order to add her name to the Olympic roster in the event considering the 1:00.25 finals qualifying time.

A heat later, Mary-Ambre Moluh out-swam Gastaldello with a 1:01.17 which makes her the top French seed heading into the finals. That’s a solid PB for Moluh, improving upon her 1:02.00 from earlier this season. Moluh, born in 2005, will be gunning for a spot on her first-ever Olympic squad during finals.

The top seed of the morning was Louise Hansson who hit a 1:00.21, getting herself under the FINA A standard of 1:00.25. Hansson is already qualified to represent Sweden in Tokyo in the 100 fly but this result could potentially get her a nomination for the backstroke event as well.

2 more French women got under the prelims qualifying time of 1:02.06 in the form of Analia Pigree (1:01.59) and Mathilde Cini (1:01.77).

Men’s 50 Breaststroke – Prelims

• French Record: 27.36 – Giacomo Perez-Dortona (2009)

It was Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches and Poland’s Kacper Pastula who posted the top 2 times of the morning. Desplanches was a 28.12 which will make him the sole international representative in the A final while Pastula and his 28.17 will be relegated to the B final as there is only one non-French swimmer in each A final.

The top few finishes were very close together considering Carl Aitkaci‘s 28.19 and Antoine Viquerat‘s 28.23 for 3rd and 4th.

Night 1 100 breaststroke winner Theo Bussiere came in with a 28.23 for 5th place which is a little bit slower than his 27.60 PB from back in 2019.

Women’s 100 Breaststroke – Prelims

• French Record: 1:07.97 – Sophie de Ronchi (2011)
• Olympic Qualifying Standards: 1:09.08 in prelims and 1:07.07 in A-final

In the wake of no men hitting the FINA A standard in the 100 breast on night 1, the women had a similar result during the prelims. Fanny Deberghes posted the top time of the session with her 1:09.61 which trails the FINA B standard of 1:09.08, as well as the 1:07.07 FINA A. Deberghes, added 0.70 seconds onto her seed time in the event of 1:08.60.

Justine Delmas has a similar performance, adding 0.79 to her 1:08.83 entry time with her 1:09.98 morning swim. That will likely take her out of contention as well.

Chole Braun was third in the prelims with a 1:10.56 while Adele Blanchetiere notched a 4th place 1:11.06 and Laure Barreau a 1:11.24 for 5th.

Men’s 100 Backstroke – Prelims

• French Record: 51.11 – Camille Lacourt (2010)
• Olympic Qualifying Standards: 55.47 in prelims and 53.85 in A-final

Yohann Ndoye Brouard has a solid morning swim in the men’s 100 backstroke with a 53.68. That’s under the FINA A standard of 53.68 and was a little bit slower than his recent swim of 52.96 PB from the 2021 European Championships.

Brouard will be going up against Mewen Tomac during the final who was close behind with a 53.76 for second seed. That swim is also under the FINA A and similar to Brouard was a bit slower than the 52.86 from Euros last month.

Should they both swim under the FINA A standard again later today, both Brouard and Tomac should be in contention for a spot on the 2021 Olympic squad.

4 more men were actually under the FINA B standard during the morning as Stanislas Huille and Geoffroy Mathieu both got under 55 in a 54.58 and 54.90, respectively. In 5th place, Maxence Orange swam a 55.38 and Paul-Gabriel Bedel rounded out the top 6 with a 55.41.

Women’s 400 Freestyle – Prelims

• French Record: 4:01.13 – Camille Muffat (4:01.13)
• Olympic Qualifying Standards: 4:15.34 in prelims and 4:07.90 in A-final

Anna Egorova led the pack in the women’s 400 freestyle with a 4:12.25, finishing nearly 6 seconds ahead of second seed heading into the final Valentin Leclercq who was a 4:18.09.

That swim for Egorova trails her lifetime and season-best of 4:04.10 which she swam at the 2021 Russian Championships in Kazan. Egorova is slated to race the 400 and 800 freestyle this summer in Tokyo.

Leclercq was not quite under the 4:15.34 prelims qualifying time of 4:15.34 but she will be heading into the final as the top-seeded French woman and will be gunning for the gold medal. Elise Dohen was next with a 4:19.56 for third seed.

Following her Olympic qualification in the 200 IM on day 1, Fantine Lesaffre showed up on day 2 to swim a 4:20.50 in the 400 freestyle, trailing her lifetime PB of 4:12.07 which she swam 2 years ago at French nationals.

Men’s 800 Freestyle – Prelims

• French Record: 7:42.08 – David Aubry (2019)
• Olympic Qualifying Standards: 8:04.90 in prelims and 7:50.28 in A-final

Marc-Antoine Olivier was under the necessary prelim time this morning with a 7:54.80 and will be aiming to dip under 7:50.28 tonight. Olivier is qualified to race the 10 km open water event in Tokyo after placing within the top 10 at 2019 World Championships but has not yet qualified to race a pool event.

Olivier’s current PB in the event is a 7:50.36 which sits right outside of the 7:50.28 FINA A mark.

Following Olivier, Joris Bouchaut notched a 7:56.82 for second seed heading into the final which is a bit shy of his 7:52.37 PB from the 2015 World Championships.

Tunisia’s Ayoub Hafnaoui followed up his top finished in the men’s 400 freestyle with a 7:56.96 in the 800 freestyle prelim. On night 1 Hafnaoui touched with a 3:46.16 in the 400 but didn’t win gold as he is not from France.

4th overall and 3rd among French men in the prelim was Tommy-Lee Camblong who didn’t quite get under 8 minutes with his swim of 8:03.42.