In a bold move, the French have left American-trained swimmer Yannick Agnel off of their 400 free relay on the first day of the 2014 European Championships, according to several media outlets. Agnel didn’t swim in prelims of the relay, which is expected of a star of his caliber, but said after a lackluster individual 400 free performance that his focus was more on the relay in finals.
The French media, however, is reporting that Agnel was snubbed in finals. The relay will include Mehdy Metella, Florent Manaudou, Jeremy Stravius, and Fabien Gilot. That means that France pulled off Gregory Mallet and Clement Mignon in exchange for Manaudou and Stravius: both of whom advanced to their respective individual semi-finals on Monday and looked solid in doing so.
The young Metella led off in the heats with a 49.22, and Gilot anchored in 48.65 as the French were 4th: two seconds behind Russia’s top seed. Russia, though, is expected to add Vlad Morozov to their finals relay, which if he’s swimming well will improve their standing by at least a second. That further distances the Russians as the favorites for gold: France still has a medal-worthy relay, but Agnel swimming and swimming well was probably their best chance at gold – though Gilot, Manaudou, and Stravius are three legs of a 3:11-caliber relay when they’re at their best.
Agnel’s best time on a flat start is a 47.84 from the London Olympics, and in finals of the 400 free relay there he split under 47 seconds to lead the French to gold. He showed himself as no sure-thing in 2013, leading off the gold medal winning relay in just 48.76, making him the weak leg of France’s relay.
Still, his lifetime best is a full second better than Metella’s, so this is a bit of a gamble for the French coaching staff.
There has been some subtext in French swimming circles about how Agnel would be treated now that he’s left France to train in the United States. If this is the first indication, he’s certainly not been given the benefit of the doubt. Then again, he was only 6th at the French Championships, which is lower than any swimmer being used on this relay aside from Stravius. That means that based on 2014 alone, he hasn’t necessarily earned a finals swim, either.
For the record, France has won gold in 3’11 with Metella, 1 second ahead of Russia. Any basher?
I hope Stravius recovers from his injury woes because he is a lot of fun to watch. His turns and underwaters are fantastic.
Titenis and gyurta very good 59.35 and 59.5x
German reporter just said that 2 or 3 days ago Belmonte and Hosszu were together driving with tram from their hotel to the doping control (blood test):)
Good, maybe he can come represent the US internationally, too. WE’LL TAKE YOU, FRENCHIE.
You mean Agnel?
Don’t dream Steve! 😆
What couldve she done without 4.31 in prelims?
Over 2s under er at 250.
Why dont they show the wr split?