Maxime Grousset Drops Own Record in 100 Fly on Final Day of French Championships
The week started with a national-record performance courtesy of Maxime Grousset in the 50 butterfly and continued with strong showings in the sprint freestyle events throughout the middle. On the final day of the French Elite Championships, Grousset has taken down another of his own national marks with a strong showing in the 100 butterfly.
Grousset blasted a time of 50.11, taking three hundredths off his previous French record set in 2023. Grousset won a world title that day in Fukuoka, and after fading to a disappointing fifth-place finish at the Paris Olympics, Grousset will head back to the World Championships as the top swimmer in the world for 2025, having eclipsed the previous best of 50.27 by Switzerland’s Noè Ponti.
Joining Grousset at the Singapore Worlds will be Clement Secchi, whose time of 51.06 came in well under the qualifying mark of 51.67 and moved him into the global top-15 for this year. Also under the mark was Michel Arkhangelsky, but his 51.24 was not good enough to earn a trip to Singapore.
Two French swimmers swimmers also made the cut in the women’s 50 freestyle. Beryl Gastadello got the win in 24.49, another global top-15 performance. Belgian visitor Florine Gaspard placed second in 24.56 but Analia Pigrée posted a third-place time of 24.64, under the requisite spot of 24.70, to qualify for her second event at Worlds. Pigrée previously was the winner of the 50 backstroke.
The only other qualifier on the final day was Cyrielle Duhamel, who narrowly cleared the qualifying standard in the women’s 400 IM. She recorded a mark of 4:38.38, ahead of the listed time of 4:38.53. Duhamel was followed by Thailand’s Kamonchanock Kwanmuang (4:45.00) and Camille Tissandie (4:47.20).
Yohann Ndoye-Brouard completed the sweep of the men’s backstroke events, but his 50-meter winning time of 24.62 was a hundredth shy of the qualifying mark of 24.61. He will swim the 100 and 200-meter races at Worlds. Lysander Osman (24.75) and Mewen Tomac (25.13) rounded out the top-three.
There was no Leon Marchand in the men’s 400 IM, but the world-record holder and Olympic champion will be ready to dominate the event once again in Singapore. He qualified for the meet by posting a time of 4:07.11 at the Longhorn Elite Invite last month, and he will enter the World Championships as the world’s top-ranked swimmer for 2025. In his absence, Emilen Mattenet won the national title in 4:15.02, two-and-a-half seconds off the qualifying time, with Tom Remy (4:21.18) and Algerian swimmer Jaouad Syoud (4:22.92) among the top-three.