Updated Celebration Results in Apparent Dislocated Shoulder for Fente Damers at French Trials

2024 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, June 16 – Friday, June 21
• Chartres, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Meet
• Entry List
• Results
• Live Stream
• Prelims: Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3
• Finals: Day 1 |Day 2 |Day 3

The joys of victory, the agonies of defeat are all too common in this sport, where there can be 100s of entrants. However, the agony of victory is not a common combination, yet occurred just a few hours ago.

2023 European Junior medalist in the 100 free (49.72), Rafael Fente Damers, who is committed to join Bob Bowman’s Texas Longhorns in 2025, swam to a massive new personal best in the 100 free at the 2024 French Elite Championships. In Chartres, Fente-Demers recorded a preliminary time of 48.87, but riding the wake of Maxime Grousset, he managed to hit a new personal best of 48.14, which earned him a 2nd place. A result that not only earned him a berth on France’s 4×100 free relay but also was under the Olympic Qualifying time of 48.34.

In the process of celebrating, however, Fente-Damers appeared to injure his shoulder and immediately wince in pain.

Hello @FFLose ! Rafael Fente-Damers 🏊‍♂️, pépite de 18 ans, a composté son billet pour le 100 mètres nage libre aux JO (48″14 !), et par la même occasion… s’est déboité l’épaule. Oui oui. pic.twitter.com/Ux1feNMx51

— Ronan Caroff (@CaroffRonan) June 18, 2024

I spoke to an MD friend of mine and a fellow Masters swimmer for background on the injury and recovery. They said that from visible inspection and without a patient history, it would be hard to determine a recovery timeline as reoccurring shoulder dislocations are easier to put back into place. They also mentioned the need to see if there were any vascular or nerve impingements involved with the injury.

After the race, he was seen accepting his medal with his arm in a sling and was reportedly escorted by medical staff to the hospital.

Né en 2006, le jeune Rafael Fente Damers s’est qualifié pour les JO de Paris sur 100 m nage libre en terminant 2e des Championnats de France en 48”14. Mais en frappant l’eau, il s’est luxé l’épaule gauche.https://t.co/Ylf8KxKGLT

— ᕈɩƙᥲ ♠ (@FunYetiK) June 18, 2024

In November of 2022, Luca Urlando injured his shoulder while racing the 100 IM at the FINA World Cup and had to be helped from the pool. Urlando had previously dislocated his shoulder in 2020, and after the injury in 2022, underwent surgery to fix the issue and missed the remainder of the 2022-2023 season, and did not race again until June of 2023.

If/when we hear more regarding the nature of the injury and expected recovery, we will update the article.

Update: We’ve been in contact with Jonathan Cohen, who is the EIC at the Fédération Française de Natation, who has been in contact with Fente Damers’ coach, and she revealed that he did go to the hospital and the radiograph is OK. If more information become available we will continue to update

MEN’S 100 FREE- FINALS

• World Record: 46.80 – Pan Zhanle, CHN (2024)
• World Junior Record: 46.86 – David Popovici, ROU (2022)
• French Record: 46.94 – Alain Bernard (2009)
• 2021 Winning Time: 47.89 – Maxime Grousset
• Olympic Qualifying Time: 48.34

Top 4

1. Maxime Grousset (CS Clichy 92) – 47.33
2. Rafael Fente Damers (Dauphins D’Annecy) – 48.14
3. Guillaume Guth (Dauphins Toulouse OEC) – 48.62
4. Hadrien Salvan (Stade de Vanves) – 48.78