Grousset Goes French Textile Best 47.33 As Rafael Fente Damers, 17, Drops 48.14 Age Record Stunner & Is Rushed To Hospital
Maxime Grousset, left, set a French textile-suit standard of 47.33 to dominate the 100m freestyle final at French Elite Championships in Chartres this evening, the time inside his previous best of 47.42 from his bronze-medal effort at World titles in Fukuoka last year.
He was followed home by the happy upset of a 48.14 from 17-year-old Rafael Fente Damers. Upset followed upset, however and the teenager is feared to have dislocated his shoulder when slapping the water and lane line when celebrating his swim. He was rushed to Chartes general hospital for examinations, Le Parisien reports.
The swims came within an hour of a 47.08 U.S. record by Jack Alexy in morning heats at U.S. Trials across The Pond. Grousset, left, coached by Michel Chrétien at Clichy 92 and a member of the national training centre, Insep, was out in 22.64, back in 24.69. World 100m butterfly last year on 50.14, Grousset, 25, is among France’s big podium hopes at the home Paris Olympics this summer. On day 1 in Chartres he clocked 22.87 to win the 50m butterfly.
There’s a likely ticket to a home Games for the new French 18 years age group record holder, a 48.14 placing 17-year-old Rafael Fente Damers, of Dauphins D’Annecy, second. Coached by Vanessa Brouard, mother of backstroke ace and French Olympian Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, young Rafael was out in 23.28, back in 24.86.
At the European Junior Swimming Championships last year, Fente Damers took bronze in the 100m free in 49.72, the race topped by Hungarian Boldzsar Magda in 49.52, with Italy’s Davide Passafaro on 49.63 for silver.
The French star rising also claimed two silvers and a bronze in men’s relays and bronze in the 4x100m mixed freestyle with French teammates.
His new best shattered the 48.86 career high he clocked at Spanish winter nationals in February and lifts him from 16th to 12th on the all-time French rankings.
In line for the French 4x100m free team, the candidates rolled into the wall in Chartes today as follows: Guillaume Guth, Léon Marchand’s Dauphins Toulouse clubmate, 48.62; 200m champion Hadrien Salvan, State de Vanves/Insep, 48.78; Wissam-Amazigh Yebba, C Paul-Bert Rennes, 48.79; Charles Rihoux, Olympic Nice, 48.93.
Add in Florent Manaudou: 47.90 in heats before he left it there on his way to seeking a 50 free berth 12 years after gold and sibling history at London 2012 for what would be his fourth Olympics for France at 33 and his first Games held at home. That 47.90 is a career best, hence the tongue to go with his tattoos – images courtesy of arena. (see foot of the article for April news on Manaudou)
There was one more sub-49 in the final, 200m relay man Nans Mazellier, in 48.96, with Yann Le Goff ending the final in 49.13.
The women’s 100m free title on day 3 in Chartres went to Marie Wattel, CN Marseille, in 53.61, with Béryl Gastaldello, Etoiles 92, on 53.71, the bronze to teenager Mary-Ambre Moluh, U.S Creteil Natation/Insep, third in 54.08. Up for a 4x100m free berth in fourth was Charlotte Bonnet, Olympic Nice, in 54.57.
In other finals, Zia Dupont, Angers Natation, claimed the 200m breaststroke c rowing in 2:28.12, while the two men’s dash finals went respectively to the 100m champion Mewen Tomac, Amiens Metropole, in 24.83 on backstroke, and Carl Aitkaci, Etoiles 92, in 27.51 on breaststroke.
From our SOS April Vortex:
Florent Manaudou Brings Olympic Flame Ashore To Macron In Marseille
Florent Manaudou, Olympic 50m freestyle champion at London 2012, brought the Olympic Flame to shore near the Old Port of Marseille in the past hour in the presence of French President Emmanuel Macron 79 days before the Opening Ceremony at the Paris Games.
More than 150,000 people attended the official welcoming of the flame, ringed by tight security that included 6,000 law-enforcement officers, after a six-hour parade of the three-masted Belem ship that left Greece on April 27 after the flame was lit in Ancient Olympia 11 days earlier.
Police canine units and elite forces snipers were deployed on the way to a Games that will unfold against a troubled global backdrop. That includes Russia’s illegal war on Ukraine and the conflict in Gaza sparked by a terrorist attack on Israeli citizens that led to a response from Israeli authorities that is the subject of challenge at the International Criminal Court, including a possible test of the “weaponisation and criminalisation of starvation”, a topic that tows heavy irony and sorrow given the horrid history of the Holocaust.
“It’s an unprecedented level of security,” French Interior minister Gerald Darmanin told media in Marseille. “Life goes on in Marseille but in great security conditions.”
Marseille “was the obvious choice,” said Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 organising committee, with a nod to a Mediterranean city founded around 600BC by Greek settlers from Phocaea.
Manaudou, whose victory in 2012 made him and sister Laure, the 2004 Olympic 400m freestyle champion, the first siblings in games history to claim gold in solo swimming events, is the first of many high-achievers and community members who will have the honour of participating in the torch relay to Paris in the coming 10 weeks.
Laure and Florent are among the star athletes who will run with the torch in the last stretch of the relay in Paris after more than 10,000 people carry the flame before it reaches Paris and is installed near the Louvre, in the Jardin des Tuileries.
A free rap concert is now underway on a floating stage in front of 45,000 spectators at the port and “hundreds of millions around the world,” retiree and boat owner Henri Gerente, told Reuters. “I am very proud and I hope that everyone will participate in this momentum. It can only be a good thing for the economy and for everything else, for the image of the city. So I’m proud of it.”
From Manaudou and Macron, the torch relay will get underway in the morning with former Olympique de Marseille soccer players Jean-Pierre Papin, Didier Drogba and Basile Boli, as well as three-star chefAlexandre Mazzia among the torch bearers.
The Olympic Opening Ceremony will take place on the River Seine on July 26, not in the traditional confines of a stadium, its open nature making the security brief all the trickier.
Talking of Manaudou…
World Aquatics Appoints Committee To Audit Anti-Doping Processes In Wake Of China 23-G0-Free Crisis Now Under Wada Investigation
World Aquatics has appointed a five-person committee to audit their anti-doping procedure after it sent a letter to member federations informing them of the move at the start of the month.
The World Aquatics Bureau recommended the review after the China story broke.
“Please be advised that by decision of the World Aquatics Bureau, an anti-doping audit review committee has been appointed to review the process and procedure of World Aquatics (and the prior FINA) in examining doping-related procedures,” the letter reads.
“The goal is to enhance our understanding of the anti-doping review and decision-making process within our federation as it concerned this particular case and take away any learnings from this experience to make World Aquatics more equipped for the future. Your confidence, and the confidence of all athletes, in our system is vital to our future together.”
The five-person panel includes London 2012 Olympic 50m freestyle champion Florent Manaudou,Aquatics Integrity Unit Supervisory Council members Miguel Cardenal and Ken Lalo, Paralympic swimmer Annabelle Williams and Brazilian coach Fernando Possenti.
The audit committee report from the five-person panel is due by the end of June.
“We hope that the results of this investigation will help erase any circulating doubt about the anti-doping movement and place the minds of our athletes at ease heading into the Paris Olympic Games,” the letter adds.