Generational Divide: Florent Tops Freddie in 50 Free at French Nationals

William Rittenhouse is a dual-citizen for Great Britain and the United States. He attends school in London, England, and is spending his junior year abroad in Rennes, France. He is training with Cercle Paul Bert Bréquigny, the club that is hosting this year’s French Nationals, and he brings todays report from French Nationals.

The stands of the Brequigny pool in Rennes, France were packed to the brim with excited fans waiting to see a star-studded list of competitors on the second day of French Nationals. There was not a spare seat available even during the warm-up, when the organizers of the competition got the fans’ excitement level up by giving out free Nikon cameras to certain lucky spectators.

The meet kicked off with the men’s 1500 free, where the best seed was Anthony Pannier with a 15:01.43. His time comes from French Nationals last year and is the time that got him into the London Olympics where, in similar fashion, he gained over 20 seconds. Enzo Vial Collet, who trailed in fifth after the first 500, ended up winning the race in 15:19.72. No one reached the FINA A standard so there were no qualifiers for Barcelona.

Camille Muffat prepares for her 100 free semi-final (white cap). Photo: Aidan Pongrace

In the semifinals of the ladies’ 100 free, Camille Muffat blew away the field, winning her heat by over two seconds finishing with a 53.61. The crowd, not caring that the race was just a semi, went absolutely nuts as the presenter said her name. The excitement must have carried over into her swim because her 53.61 this time puts her second in the world in the event this year, behind Australia’s Cate Campbell. Look for her to get close to the French record, 53.49, in the final. Muffat’s success in both the 100 and 400 free bodes well for her 200 free on Saturday. Look out for Charlotte Bonnet in the final of the 100 as well, as she was only .01 seconds off her qualifying time today.

Swimmers in the men’s 100 backstroke final underwater. (Photo: Aidan Pongrace)

In a rematch of 2011 World Championships in Shanghai, where were co-champions in the 100 back, Jeremy Stravius and Camille Lacourt lit up pool in this race. Overall, it seemed like Lacourt was the fan favorite, even if he did trail Stravius’ seed time going into the final. Off the start, Stravius seemed to have gone a bit too deep, but still came up in front of Lacourt. After the turn, Stravius’ unhurried and mechanical stroke started to power him in front of Lacourt’s smoother movements. Stravius’ 53.09 is the top time in the world in 2013 and Lacourt’s 53.65 is the fourth fastest. Both qualified easily for the World Championships so we can hope to see another showdown later this summer in Barcelona.

Giacomo Perez Dortona was able to just dip under the qualifying mark in the men’s 100 breaststroke with a 1:00.64 in the 4^th best time in the world this year. He dominated the field the entire way and won by over 1.5 seconds. Perez Dortona had a breakout year last year and just missed the semi finals in London, placing 17^th.

In a relatively slow women’s 100 breaststroke semifinal, no one went under 1:10. Although it seems unlikely that anyone will qualify for the World Championships, the final will be interesting tomorrow, with 4 swimmers within .4 seconds of each other.

Jeremy Stravius got back into the pool three heats after the final of the 100 back for the first semifinal of the 200 IM. He took it super easy on the first 50 meters, taking 2 strokes for every 3 of his competitors. Even so, he got out to pretty hefty lead and extended it on breaststroke. Although he got caught up on breaststroke and for the first 40 meters of freestyle, he turned up the intensity just enough on the last 10 meters to win his heat in 2:00.95. David Verraszto, from Hungary, took the second heat, posting the best time of the night in 2:00.67. While Verrastzo looked much less relaxed than Stravius, both will be looking to get under 2 minutes to secure a spot at the World Champs this summer. My bets are on a Stravius win.

In the women’s 200 backstroke, Evelyn Verraszto of Hungary was not able to take off the necessary .1 seconds of her seed time to reach her qualifying time. In fact, she went the exact same time as she did in the semi-finals, a 2:11.19. The fastest Frenchwoman, Cloé Credeville, went a 2:14.17 in a relatively slow final that had times up to 2:21.66.

Nothing but wake in the men’s 50 free final at the 2013 French National Championships. (Photo: Aidan Pongrace)

50 free: The marquee event of the night was, without a doubt, the men’s splash and dash, with stars such as Amaury Leveaux in lane 2, Florent Manadou in lane 4, and Fred Bousquet in lane 5 being the top 3 contenders of the final. Amidst cheers for the crowd’s favorite competitors and calls for quiet from officials the eight men powered off the blocks. Manadou, the 2012 Olympic gold-medalist, led from the start and never relinquished his lead. He finished in a world best time of 2013 of 21.55. This was only .21 off of his time from the Olympics, and would have placed him third at the same competition. Fred Bousquet gave it his all, but trailed Manadou start to finish in 21.73, the world’s third best time of 2013. This ties up the medal count between Bousquet, who won the 50 fly yesterday, and Manaudou. Unfortunately, they will not be competing in any more races together at this meet. Amaury Leveaux rounded off the podium, winning the bronze medal in 22.05, a top-ten time of the year.

In the semifinal of ladies’ 200 fly, no one was close to the FINA World Champ qualification time of 2:09.38. Isabelle Marboux won the first semi in a time of 2:14.13, which marks her as the woman to beat in tomorrow night’s final. Marie Wattel, age 16, goes in second to tomorrow’s final with a new age-group record time of 2:14.26.