After initially revealing what appeared to be a massive roster for the World Championships in Istanbul, Turkey from December 12th-16th, has announced a finalized roster of just 11 athletes, including 8 men and 3 women. That’s a significant downgrade from the 32 that they had initially planned to send to the short course, and generall more minor, version of this meet. That roster of 32 would have been one of the stronger sent to Turkey, but instead a much thinner squad is going.
The coaching staff will be led by Romain Barnier, the head coach of CN Marseilles that claims three members of the team, and the nomad Philippe Lucas, who is back in action on the French National coaching staff after many years absent. He will also be on the European Championships staff.
The French seem to be focusing most of their efforts on the late-November European Championships in Chartres, France in front of a home crowd; still, with so much depth in their sprint group on the men’s side, the French will still be very stout in the relays. That includes swimmers like Olympic 50 free champion Florent Manaudou, as well as his brother-in-law Fred Bousquet.
The full French roster is below:
 Men |
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| 1. | BOURELLY Lorys | 1992 | DAUPHINS TOULOUSE OEC |
| 2. | BOUSQUET Frédérick | 1981 | CN MARSEILLE |
| 3. | GANDIN Dorian | 1991 | CN MARSEILLE |
| 4. | LEVEAUX Amaury | 1985 | LAGARDERE PARIS RACING |
| 5. | MANAUDOU Florent | 1990 | CN MARSEILLE |
| 6. | PANNIER Anthony | 1988 | AAS SARCELLES NATATION 95 |
| 7. | ROUAULT Sébastien | 1986 | MULHOUSE ON |
| 8. | SASSOT Romain | 1986 | LYON NATATION |
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| Women |
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| 1. | BABOU Fanny | 1989 | CNS ST-ESTÈVE |
| 2. | GRANGEON Lara | 1991 | CN CALÉDONIENS |
| 3. | SANTAMANS Anna | 1993 | OLYMPIC NICE NATATION |
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| Staff |
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| CASSAGNE Patrice | DTN adjoint Haut Niveau | ||
| QUINT Patricia | Responsable d’équipe | ||
| BARNIER Romain | Entraîneur | ||
| LUCAS Philippe | Entraîneur | ||
| BOUCHARD Jean-Loup | Médecin | ||
| COZZOLINO Christophe | Kinésithérapeute | ||
| WESTRICH Denis | Analyste, Evaluateur | ||
This roster is a joke. But unfortunately we know that behind Camille Muffat, Yannick Agnel and overall the freestylers and a few backstrokers the level is very weak.
No Agnel and Muffat? Wow!
We knew that. The main goal for Yannick Agnel and Camille Muffat is to shine at the european short course championships in France. I think we will see 2 world records for Camille Muffat in the 200 free and in the 400 free.