2023 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, June 11th – Friday, June 16th
- Rennes, France
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- FFN Selection Criteria
- Meet Central
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Prelims Recap / Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap / Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap / Day 3 Finals Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Recap / Day 4 Finals Recap
- Live Results
- Live Stream
18-year-old Tabatha Avetand swam a 2:09.73 200 butterfly to win gold at the 2023 French Elite Championships and break a national age group record. Avetand beat Marie Wattel‘s 2015 record of 2:09.87, becoming the fastest French female ever. The swim from Avetand was a new best time and marked her first sub-2:10 200 butterfly. She previously held a 2:10.83 from the 2022 French Elite Championships where she also took gold.
Split Comparisons
| Avetand – 2023 French Nationals | Wattel – 2015 | Avetand – 2022 French Nationals | |
| 50 | 28.94 | 29.07 | 29.02 |
| 100 | 1:01.77 (32.83) | 1:02.03 (32.96) | 1:02.14 (33.12) |
| 150 | 1:35.37 (33.60) | 1:35.38 (33.35) | 1:36.30 (34.16) |
| 200 | 2:09.73 (34.36) | 2:09.87 (34.49) | 2:10.83 (34.53) |
Avetand and Wattel split their age group record-breaking races very similarly, but 3/4 of Avetand’s splits were each a touch faster, allowing her to crack the record. The 2015 time by Wattel remains her fastest on record and she hasn’t swum the event in the long course pool since 2016.
While Avetand has been a national champion in the 200 butterfly before, this was her first medal of the 2023 meet. Earlier on in the competition, she swam a 1:00.65 100 butterfly to place 5th overall in the final. She also swam the 50 freestyle in which she finished 46th overall with a 27.81. Her final event of the meet will be the 50 butterfly.
Avetand narrowly missed the French 2023 World Championships cut of 2:09.07 with this swim as well as the FINA A cut of 2:09.21. It’s unclear whether she’ll get a spot on the team this year. Last year, France did not send anyone to the World Championships in this event and actually hasn’t sentanyone to that meet since Lara Grangeon raced it in 2015.
With her age group record-setting swim, Avetand was the only swimmer in the field under 2:10. The silver medal went to Lilou Ressencourt who hit a 2:10.38 and Juliette Marchand delivered a 2:11.29 for bronze.