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Manaudou Drops a 21.68 in 50 Free; Bousquet and Gilot Make Waves in Melun

Three of France’s top sprinters skipped the Canet-en-Roussillon stop of Mare Nostrum to compete in the 5th Annual Meeting de la Ville de Melun over the weekend. Florent Manaudou, Frédérick Bousquet, and Fabien Gilot, all with Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille, turned out at the Laure Manaudou Pool in Melun for the regional meet.

The public of the Parisian-area city of Melun were treated to a semi-private audience with the Marseille stars, both in and out of the pool. In the water, the trio finished 1-2-3 in the 50 free, 1-2 in the 50 fly, and 1st in the 100 free. And despite the absence of the usual competitive field, they put up some impressive mid-season times.

Manaudou, in particular, was spectacular in the pool named for his sister. He won the 50 free in 21.68, swimming a sub-22 for the seventh time this year. It was his second-fastest swim of the year, better than any of the four stops of the FFN Golden Tour.

50m free 21.57 3/31/2015 Elite Nationals prelims
50m free 21.68 6/6/2015 Meeting de Melun
50m free 21.70 3/31/2015 Elite Nationals finals
50m free 21.71 3/6/2015 Golden Tour Marseille
50m free 21.81 2/13/2015 Golden Tour Amiens
50m free 21.89 1/30/2015 Golden Tour Nice
50m free 21.97 5/22/2015 Golden Tour Nancy

 

Bousquet placed second in the 50 free with 22.77, having tied with Manaudou in prelims at 22.96. The 34-year-old was absent from the swimming scene for 15 months due to a shoulder injury, only coming back in mid-January. He went 22.68 during the Amiens stage of the Golden Tour, and then was forced to withdraw from the 50 free at Elite Nationals when he got food poisoning.

Gilot was third in 23.65, although he was 23.62 in prelims. At Elite Nationals in Limoges, Gilot took third with 22.13, which is the 15th-fastest time in the world so far this year.

2014-2015 LCM Men 50 Free

2Nathan
ADRIAN
USA21.3708/07
3Caleb
DRESSEL
USA21.5308/08
4Bruno
FRATUS
BRA21.5508/08
5Vladimir
MOROZOV
RUS21.5608/08
6Josh
SCHNEIDER
USA21.8008/12
7Evgeny
SEDOV
RUS21.8408/12
7Cesar
CIELO
BRA21.8404/08
9Marco
ORSI
ITA21.8608/07
9Andrii
GOVOROV
UKR21.8608/08
11Cullen
JONES
USA21.8708/08
11Kristian
GKOLOMEEV
GRE21.8708/07
13Benjamin
PROUD
GBR21.8808/07
14Krisztian
TAKACS
HUN21.8906/30
15Katsumi
NAKAMURA
JPN21.9006/14
View Top 27»

In the 50 fly, Manaudou topped the podium yet again. Going 23.81 in prelims, he finished with a world top-ten 23.40, his second-fastest of the season.

50m fly 23.37 3/31/2015 Elite Nationals
50m fly 23.40 6/6/2015 Meeting de Melun
50m fly 23.49 2/13/2015 Golden Tour Amiens
50m fly 23.75 5/22/2015 Golden Tour Nancy

 

Bousquet picked up another silver medal, finishing in 24.56. As in the 50 free, Bousquet has shown great consistency in his post-surgery comeback. His top time is only a couple hundredths outside of the TYR Rankings for the world’s top 25.

50m fly 23.78 3/31/2015 Elite Nationals
50m fly 24.19 1/30/2015 Golden Tour Nice
50m fly 24.22 2/13/2015 Golden Tour Amiens
50m fly 24.56 6/6/2015 Meeting de Melun

 

Gilot skipped the 50 fly (in which he swam a 23.47 in prelims at Elite Nationals in Limoges) in favor of the 100 free. Gilot won a fairly uncontested race 50.71. The Marseillais owns the 13th-fastest time in the world so far this year (48.53). Note that Bousquet went 50.24 in prelims at Limoges.

100m free 48.53 3/31/2015 Elite Nationals finals
100m free 49.41 3/31/2015 Elite Nationals prelims
100m free 50.00 1/30/2015 Golden Tour Nice
100m free 50.71 6/6/2015 Meeting de Melun

 

Fabrice Turpin, who swims for CN Melun Val de Seine, took fourth in the 50 free in a personal-best 23.94, the only other sub-24 in the field. Turpin was also fourth in the 50 fly, where he dropped a half-second to finish with 25.20. Flavien Aubry of Créteil was third in both the 50 fly (24.88) and 100 free (52.78). Nazim Belkhoudja of Courbevoie was runner-up to Gilot in the 100 free with 51.38.

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James
9 years ago

USA is in desperate need of some younger swimmers (under 25 at least) to put up some elite times.

DDias
9 years ago

Judging by his SC WR and his powerful start I will not be surprised by a 21.1(give or take a bit) in Kazan.

Markster
Reply to  DDias
9 years ago

nahh

Glenny
9 years ago

Josh Schneider has the top two times for the U.S in the 50… Kinda worrying

ERVINFORTHEWIN
Reply to  Glenny
9 years ago

Let’s wait until Adrian gets his power back on 50 free .

Pvk
9 years ago

Manaudou 21.2 in Kazan then 21.0 in Rio

Reid
9 years ago

I wouldn’t call 24.56 a couple months after a 23.78 consistency…

Billabong
9 years ago

French sprinting is in fine fettle. Almost as good as today’s French Open. Manadou will destroy the field in Kazan in the 50 free. Her is peerless at the moment.

About Braden Keith

Braden Keith

Braden Keith is the Editor-in-Chief and a co-founder/co-owner of SwimSwam.com. He first got his feet wet by building The Swimmers' Circle beginning in January 2010, and now comes to SwimSwam to use that experience and help build a new leader in the sport of swimming. Aside from his life on the InterWet, …

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