2020 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Thursday, December 10th – Sunday, December 13th
- Saint-Raphaël, France
- LCM (50m)
- Olympic Qualifying Meet
- French Olympic Qualifying Procedures
- SwimSwam Preview
- Start Lists
- Day 1 Prelims Recap/Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap
- Live Results
Fireworks ignited this day 3 prelims session with 27-year-old Melanie Henique throwing down a new national record in the women’s 50m free. She registered a time of 24.34 to take the top seed headed into tonight’s final. You can read more about her remarkable swim here.
Leon Marchand turned some heads as well while competing in the men’s 400m IM. The 18-year-old ASU-commit posted a morning time of 4:16.81, a mark which sits just outside his lifetime best of 4:16.37. That PB garnered him a bronze medal at the 2019 World Junior Championships in Budapest.
Although Marchand is nearing the FINA ‘A’ cut of 4:15.84 for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, he needs to go much farther in his quest, with the French Swimming Federation (FFN) mandating a consideration standard of a much quicker 4:13.33.
Additional Notes:
- Serguei Comte was the quickest 50m flyer for the men, posting a time of 23.95 as the only sub-24 second swimmer Mehdy Metella is in the mix as the 4th seed in 24.16
- The men’s 100m breast saw one swimmer dip under the minute threshold in the form of Theo Bussiere‘s 59.86.
- Jonathan Atsu leads the men’s 200m free field with a time of 1:47.47.
- The women’s 200m breast saw Justine Delmas post the quickest morning time of 2:27.99. She’s been as fast as 2:27.05, so we’ll see what the 15-year-old has in store this evening come the finals.