2024 French Elite SC Championships: Gastaldello Shines Once Again

2024 FRENCH ELITE SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, October 31st – Sunday, November 3rd
• Montpellier, France
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Live Results

The 2024 French Elite Short Course Championships wrapped up tonight from Montpellier with multiple national record holders diving in for a chance to represent the nation next month at the 2024 Short Course World Championships.

Following her new French national record in the women’s 100m back from last night, Beryl Gastaldello wrapped up another win in the 50m fly to close out her campaign.

29-year-old Gastaldello clocked a time of 24.76 to produce the sole sub-25-second time of the field.

Snagging silver was Melanie Henique who touched in 25.47 while Analia Pigree rounded out the podium in 25.76.

Gastaldello’s outing was a near-lifetime best, falling just .01 outside of the 24.75 logged during the 2020 International Swimming League (ISL) season. She remains France’s #2 performer of all time, sitting only behind national record holder Henique and her outing of 24.56 from the 2019 European Short Course Championships.

Tunisia got on the board, courtesy of Ahmed Jaouadi in the men’s 800m free.

Jaouadi produced a winning result of 7:33.84 to clobber the field, with the next closest competitor represented by teammate Rami Rahmouni who notched 7:41.00.

Jaouadi fell painstakingly shy of the Tunisian national record in the event, a time of 7:33.69 Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui put on the books at the 2021 Short Course World Championships.

The men’s 100m back saw a brutal battle between Mewen Tomac, Yohann Ndoye-Brouard and Antonie Herlem.

23-year-old Tomac wound up at the wall first, turning in a time of 50.28 as the gold medalist.

Ndoye-Brouard settled for silver in 50.76 while Herlem captured bronze in 51.50.

Tomac remains France’s #2 performer in history, owning a lifetime best of 49.72 from last year’s European Championships. Ndoye-Brouard remains right behind with a PB of 49.78 from the 2022 Short Course World Championships.

Additional Winners

• The men’s 200m fly saw Clement Secchi top the podium in 1:52.31, beating the pack by nearly 4 seconds. He’s now France’s 3rd-quickest performer in history in this event.
• Cyrielle Duhamel got it done for gold in the women’s 400m IM, producing a result of 4:35.33. That got her to the wall over 7 seconds ahead of the field.
• Florine Gaspard of Belgium reaped gold in the women’s 100m breast in 1:06.46, beating the field by over a second.
• The men’s 50m free saw Olympian Maxime Grousset earn the top prize, registering 20.94 as the decisive champion.