Heemskerk Reaps 2 Wins, Shymanovich Makes History In Marseille

2019 FFN GOLDEN TOUR CAMILLE MUFFAT – MARSEILLE

• Friday, March 22nd – Sunday, March 24th
• LCM
• Meet Site
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• Entry Lists
• Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
• Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
• Day 3 Prelims Recap
• Live Results

The final session of the 2019 FFN Golden Tour Camille Muffat in Marseille kicked off with a meet-record setting swim in the men’s 100m butterfly. Already having established himself as the top seeded swimmer with his morning time of 52.08, German athlete Marius Kusch brought the heat this evening to deny South African a 100m/200m fly double.

Splitting 24.20/27.32 in tonight’s 100m fly final, Kusch notched a winning time of 51.52 to beat Le Clos’ runner-up effort of 51.62. The German’s outing marks just the 4th time Kusch has dipped under the 52-second threshold, with his time tonight falling just shy of his season-best mark of 51.35 set at the Pro Swim Series in Des Moines.

Finishing 3rd behind Kusch and Le Clos tonight was Frenchman Mehdy Metella, who wrangled up a sub-52 time of his own in 51.96. All 3 medalists achieved the FINA A qualification time for World Championships, as well as insert themselves into the world rankings among the top 7 performers thus far.

Having already set the bar extremely high with his morning swim of 58.79, Belarus’ Ilya Shymanovich continued the magic in tonight’s 100m breaststroke race. Absolutely manhandling the field, Shymanovich clocked a new National Record en route to becoming the 2nd fastest performer of all-time. He hit the wall in 58.29, the world’s #1 time this season and the 13th fastest mark ever produced.

You can read more about Shymanovich’s historic performance here.

Dutch 100m freestyle victor here, Femke Heemskerk of Netherlands, chimed in with another win in the women’s 50m sprint tonight. Brazil’s Etiene Medeiros had snagged the fastest time of the morning with her AM swim of 25.03, but Heemskerk launched herself off the blocks and to the wall first in the final, clocking 24.73 for gold.

That easily clears the FINA A cut of 25.04 needed for Gwangju as well as moves Heemskerk into slot #7 on the world rankings. Medeiros was right behind, earning runner-up status in 24.82, the only other sub-25 second mark of the field. That out performs Medeiros’ previous season-best of 24.96 produced last December.

But Heemskerk wasn’t done, as the Olympic medalist cruised to the gold in the 200m free tonight as well. Establishing herself as the woman to beat this morning with a heats swim of 1:57.89, Heemskerk sliced .35 off of that result to punch a time of 1:57.54. That’s well under the FINA A cut of 1:58.66 needed for Gwangju.

Behind her was French mainstay Charlotte Bonnet who earned the only other sub-2:00 effort of the field in 1:59.63. Bonnet has already been as fats as 1:57.86 at the first stop of the Godlen Tour in Nice.

Spaniard Mireia Belmonte claimed her 1st gold here in Marseille, topping the women’s 800m freestyle. It took the entire 800 meters for Belmonte to overtake Australian Maddy Gough, as the Aussie led through the final 100m. But, that’s when the Fred Vergnoux-trained Belmonte made her move, closing the race in a final 100m of 1:01.25 to Gough’s 1:01.83.

Final times for the women were 8:27.12 for Belmonte and 8:27.44 for Gough, with Gough’s just .16 off of her lifetime best from last year’s Pan Pacs.

Belmonte’s time tonight is a solid outing for the 28-year-old 200m fly Olympic champion, considering she only started back up training at the beginning of 2019.

The pair now sit as #2 and #2 in the world, only behind America’s Katie Ledecky in the women’s 800m free this year.

Dutch swimmer Tes Schouten took the women’s 100m breaststroke in a time of 1:07.53, representing the only sub-1:08 time of the field. She owns the Dutch National Record in 1:07.12, so tonight’s effort was right within reach of her own personal best. Her mark fell just .10 shy of the FINA A qualifying time of 1:07.43 for Gwangju.

Of note, Kathleen Baker of the U.S. took silver in the 100m breast race, collecting a runner-up time of 1:08.69, the 2nd fastest of her career.

Winning by almost 5 seconds, Iron Lady Katinka Hosszu of Hungary punched a time of 2:09.77 to clear the women’s 200m backstroke field. That’s her fastest time this season and also enters Hosszu as the 6th fastest performer in the world so far this season.

Falling just .2 shy of her own personal best in the event, America’s Kendyl Stewart stood on top of the podium for the first time in Marseille. Taking the women’s 100m fly, Stewart clocked 57.90 to claim the 4th fastest time of her young career. She now sits as the 6th fastest performer globally this season.

Additional Winners:

• Greek athlete Apostolos Christou completed his trio of backstroke victories clinching the 50m sprint gold tonight. 25.28 is what the 22-year-old produced tonight to top the podium, clearing the FINA B cut for this summer’s World Championships.
• The men’s 400m free saw top-seeded Denis Loktev of Israel top the podium in a winning time of 3:52.40.
• Although all but 1 of the men’s 100m free finalists notched a time under 50 seconds, no one was able to take things further into 48-second territory. Mehdy Metella took gold in 49.22, followed by his teammate Clement Mignon who touched in 49.31. Kyle Stolk of Netherlands rounded out the top 3 in 49.66. Clement earned a morning time of 48.84 this morning, just .04 outside of the 48.80 FINA A cut, but wan’t able to replicate the same type of swim tonight.