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
- Live Results
- Live Stream
The 2023 French Elite Championships began with a humongous bang, as Leon Marchand fired off the 4th fastest 200m breaststroke performance in history.
The 21-year-old Arizona State University’s time of 2:06.59 destroyed the previous French national record by over 2 seconds and scorched the field by over 3 seconds.
We’ve previously reported how Marchand has said he does not plan on racing the 200m breast at next month’s World Championships, despite easily qualifying. The versatile superstar is keeping this option open, however, for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Additional World Championships qualifiers included newly-minted French national Anastasia Kirpichnikova.
The 22-year-old clocked a time of 4:08.70 to end a seven-year drought of French women not competing in this event at a major international event.
Day 1 French World Championships Qualifiers
- Charlotte Bonnet – women’s 200m IM (2:10.64)
- Fantine Lesaffre – women’s 200m IM (2:11.59)
- Logan Fontaine – men’s 400m free (3:46.60)
- Marie Wattel – women’s 100m fly (57.34)
- Anastasia Kirpichnikova – women’s 400m free (4:08.70)
- Leon Marchand – men’s 200m breast (2:06.59)
- Antoine Marc – men’s 200m breast (2:09.68)
It’s good to see that there are going to be a good number of French swimmers at World Titles. Anytime there’s a big roster, it means good things for the Federation specifically and for world swimming in general.