Florent Manaudou, Pernille Blume Race Long Course in Barcelona

43rd Alejandro Lopez Trophy (Sant Andreu Meet)

• February 12-13, 2022
• Barcelona, Spain
• Long Course Meters (50 meters), Prelims/Finals
• Results on SplashMe App: “43 Trofeu Alejandro Lopez”

Frenchman Florent Manaudou performed his best long course test under his new coaches this weekend in Barcelona, racing at a meet hosted by one of Spain’s top clubs: CN Sant Andreu.

Manaudou, along with some of his teammates from CN Antibes in France, raced among a mostly-local Spanish field that also featured a few of Spain’s domestic stars, though they mostly appeared to be in heavy training mode.

Manaudou’s second long course results since the Tokyo Olympic Games featured him racing in the 50 free and 50 fly. In the 50 free, he won in 22.19, improving on a 23.29 that he swam in prelims. That’s exactly a second slower than his lifetime best from 2015, but is faster than he was in the Camille Muffat meet on a similar weekend last year, where he led the final in 22.34.

The 31-year old Manaudou won gold in the 50 free at the 2012 Olympic Games and silver in Rio in 2016. After a foray into professional handball, he returned to swimming to win another silver in the 50 free in Tokyo.

After the Olympics, Manaudou announced that he was leaving his longtime club CN Marseille for the young coaches at Antibes, Quentin Coton and Yoris Grandjean. Last weekend, in Nice, he won the 50 free in 22.42 ahead of fellow sprint Olympian Maxime Grousset.

Also joining him at that club is his fiancée Pernille Blume. Blume, a Danish international, was the 2016 Olympic champion in the 50 free. After a bronze medal finish in the same race in Tokyo, she took the fall off to participate in the Danish reality dance show Vild med Dans, where she ultimately finished in 3rd place.

This weekend’s meet was her first racing, then, since the Tokyo Olympic Games, and also her first representing CN Antibes.

She won the 50 free in 25.06 and was the top seed in prelims of the 100 free in 55.95 before scratching the final.

Other International-Level Swimmers’ Results:

• Joan Lluis Pons, the Spanish Record holder in the 400 IM, swam four events at the meet, picking up one win, in his specialty the 400 IM. His time was 4:23.75.
• Lidon Munoz, another Spansish Record holder, raced in a pile of events. That included a head-to-head duel with Blume in the 50 free, where Campo placed 2nd in 25.23. That’s only four-tenths away from her lifetime best in the event. Munoz also won the 100 free in 55.79
• Former Cal Golden Bear Marina Garcia won the 200 free in 2:02.50, the 50 breast in 32.26, and the 100 breast in 1:09.91. The 50 and 200 are easily her best times since the Tokyo Olympics: in the 200 free, she was 1.7 seconds better than in her last meet a month ago. She didn’t swim the 200 breaststroke, which was the race she swam at the Olympic Games (placing 22nd).