On the first day of stage four of the Catalan Circuit of Trophies Swimming in Sabadell, Spain athletes put up four world top ten times and followed that up on day two five more.
In December Olympic Champion Florent Manaudou was had some outstanding showings in the short course pool, but unfortunately had to bow out of the European Short Course Championships due to a shoulder injury, an injury that does not appear to be hampering the Frenchman anymore.
In the prelims Manaudou one upped one of his biggest rivals, Brazilian Cesar Cielo, by posting a 23.18 in the men’s 50 butterfly, beating the time of 23.44 Cielo posted on Friday. With that time he slides into second place in the world rankings just behind Belarusian Yauhen Tsurkin who swam a 23.11 earlier this year. Manaudou’s time is only four one-hundredths of a seconds off of his best time of 23.14, which he recorded in April last year.
In the evening he took the men’s 100 freestyle in a time of 48.79, which is currently sixth in the world rankings. That makes two top ten ranked times on the weekend, as he posted a time of 22.16 in the 50 freestyle yesterday, which is the fifth ranked time in the world.
Spaniard Rafael Munoz won the men’s 50 butterfly in a time of 23.71, taking over the seventh spot in the world rankings. Mehdy Metella of France, who recorded the seventh ranked time in the men’s 100 butterfly on the first day of competition, finished second in a time of 23.90, which puts him ninth in the world rankings for the 50.
*Both rankings take into account Cesar Cielo’s time of 23.44 and Manaudou’s 23.18 from the prelims.
Coralie Balmy of France also put up her second top ten time of the weekend winning the women’s 800 freestyle in a time of 8:32.25. That keeps Balmy in the ninth place position in the world rankings, a position she held before the race having posted a 8:32.49 at the end of January.
Frenchman Giacomo Perez-Dortona won the men’s 100 breaststroke in a time of 1:01.34, which currently ranks eighth in the world.
Full results can be found here
Correct the time for Coralie Balmy. 8.32.25.
Florent Manaudou (not Manadou) focuses more on the 100 free since Barcelona. His training will pay off. 48.79 untapered is impressive. We can expect something big around 47.50/47.75 in 2 weeks at the French nationals in Chartres. My only concern is her freestyle technique which requires much power. And his shoulder suffers. We’ll see.
23.18 untapered in the 50 fly is also a stunning performance. 22.60 is possible for him in the future.
That photo is always as impressive. What a physical beast! 😆
Swimming 48.79 a day after swimming 22.16 makes me believe he will win 100 free at euros. I think Morozov (is Agnel going to swim 100 free at euro?) will have to swim his PB to beat Manadou.
Can Manadou go 47.5??
Keeping in mind his 45.0 in SCM meters, yes, i think he can do it.He made 48.7 doing only 22.16(a very weak for his standards).The only problem will be if he is not at his best because of his old injury.Let´s face it:In Euros, even if he doesnt go 21.3 in 50free, the only guy capable to defeat him is Morozov.He will be at least silver.Makes sense his 100free move.
I’m thinking big too. It’ll be the first time someone upped a distance in some time. Although his SC results hint times that rival Magnussen’s
Jeff,
Manaudou made 23:18(now 2th in the World) in prelims of 50 fly(he skipped final).
Thanks! and good eye! The article is being adjusted