2024 French Olympic Trials – Five Storylines to Follow

2024 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Sunday, June 16 – Friday, June 21
• Chartres, France
• LCM (50 meters)
• Entry List
• Results

It is a busy time to be a swim fan. The Australian Olympic Trials are drawing to a close, the US Trials are nigh upon us, and the European Championships are right around the corner. However, this article will focus on another major meet occurring in the near future. The 2024 French Elite Championships, their Olympic Qualification event, is set to kick off Sunday, June 16th, in the beautiful cathedral city of Chartres.

At the Tokyo Games in 2021, France won just one medal, with sprint star Florent Manaudou taking home a silver in the 50 free. Fast-forward a few years to 2023, and France claimed six medals at the World Championships in Fukuoka, behind Leon Marchand‘s three gold medal-winning performances. Such success, combined with his continued dominance in the NCAA this past year, makes Marchand the easy first storyline to expound on.

How Low Can He Go?

At the 2023 Worlds, Marchand went three for three in individual events, sweeping the IMs and, in the process, casually destroying the oldest record in the book, Michael Phelps‘s 400 IM record. With a home crowd for a home Olympics, how much will Marchand push himself?

He is entered in his usual slate of events, the 200 fly, 200 IM, and 400 IM, but also adds the 200 breaststroke to his event list this week. Marchand has always had a scheduling conflict between the 200 breaststroke finals and the 200 fly semis in an Olympic Program, but the Bob Bowman-trained athlete now has a gap of three events instead of being back to back. Last summer, Marchand raced the event at their trials but opted against swimming it in Fukuoka, where if he replicated his 2:06.59, he would have won bronze.

He has only raced the 200 breast once this season, hitting 2:08.40, but with little to no domestic competition, he could opt to go after the race or save himself for the Olympics. In the IMs, he also stands alone in front of his compatriots, so he could be tempted to play things cool, or he could be in the same training pattern as his US training partners, and he could be on the edge of something great. Only time will tell, but fortunately we need not wait long.

Triple Crown of Olympic Sprinting

(Photo by Patrick B. Kraemer / MAGICPBK)

We know Marchand won three of the medals from Fukuoka, and his teammate Maxime Grousset was responsible for the other three, winning gold in the 100 fly and bronzes in the 50 free and 50 fly.

In Chartres, Grousset will tackle the three fastest events in the Men’s Olympic program: the 50/100 free and the 100 fly, as well as the non-Olympic 50 fly. Grousset is the clear favorite in the 100 fly, leading Clement Secchi by close to two seconds in the entries. The 100 free is a little tighter of an affair, as Florent Manaudou sits within a second.

However, the 50 is a different ball game entirely, as Manaudou leads Grousset by over .2 seconds in the entries. If Grousset wishes to win all three events, he’ll need to be on the top of his game to overcome the reigning Olympic silver medalist. Grousset’s season best of 21.92 sits just behind Mandaudou’s 21.89, so it will be anyone’s guess as to who will come out on top. Both have been under the OQT of 21.96 in season, so should things go to plan, both should qualify, the big question being in what order.

My Kingdom, My Kingdom for a Medley Relay

The French 4×100 free relays have been part of swimming history since 2008, when Alain Bernard famously said that the French were going to smash the US, only to be run down by the one and only Jason Lezak. The French got their revenge in 2012, with the team led by Yannick Agnel overcoming the US.  Things looked to be improving as the French men won both the 4×100 free and 4×100 medley at the 2013 World Champs but has since started falling quickly behind, failing to field a medley relay in 2019 and not making the top eight at the Tokyo Games. The French women’s relays have also found success in the freestyle relays, winning a bronze medal in the 4×200 free relay in London, but not so much in the medleys.

Breaststroke has long been the weakness on both sides, but Leon Marchand and Charlotte Bonnet have stepped up to fill in, and admirably so, with Marchand splitting 59.00 flat in 2023 and Bonnet, the new French record holder, holding her own against the likes of Tes Schouten and Abbey Harkin.

That said, with one gap filled, another hole appears. The French men’s relays were anchored by a pedestrian 48.40 by Hadrien Salvan. To note, if Salvan (or whomever) anchored the relay was 47.40 (and that’s not a big ask), the French would have claimed the silver medal. The women, too, were let down by a disappointing 54.62 anchor leg by Lison Nowaczyk.

The issue with both relays rests in the fact that France’s fastest male 100 freestyler, Maxime Grousset, is also their best flier. While she has eschewed freestyle events lately, Bonnet, the recent record holder in the 100 breast, is still the national record holder in the 100 free. For France to be competitive in the medleys, they really need their second-best swimmers to step up and perform their best as well.

Battle of the Backs Part 1

Photo courtesy KMSP/FFN/S.Kempinaire

The backstroke events have come along quite well for the French women, especially the 100. Pauline Mahieu broke the French record during the semifinal round in Fukuoka, setting a new mark of 59.30 en route to a 6th-place finish. Mahieu’s record is her seed time and naturally affords her the top seed, but she is joined by a trio of fellow swimmers under the 1:00.00 barrier.

Mary-Ambre Moluh (59.67), Analia Pigree (59.79), and Emma Terebo (59.83) are all lying in wait. With an Olympic Qualifying time of 59.99, the French woman could easily see multiple women under the standard in the final, and placing will be key as only two can be selected.  Moluh is the 3rd seed in the 100 free, so has a chance of qualifying for that event, and Terebo leads the pack in the 200, so all four could theoretically make the team, albeit in different events.

Battle of the Backs Part 2

Whereas in the women’s 100, it’ll be a four-way race to the finish, the men’s race is a duel between two of France’s best swimmers. The top seed in the 100, Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, has an entry time of 52.84, just two-hundredths of a second ahead of Mewen Tomac. The pair, both of whom are chasing after Camille Lacourt‘s 52.11 national record, have been pushing each other to greater and greater heights each year. Both failed to make the final in Tokyo, but Ndoye-Brouard finished 4th in 2022 and 5th in 2023, with Tomac joining him in the 2023 final.

Tomac has the edge in the longer distance, having a seed time greater than his compatriots by .44. Ndoye-Brouard holds the national record, which he set at the 2022 European Championships, but Tomac scared it by swimming within .17 at the 2023 World Champs, ultimately finishing in 4th in 1:55.79.

The pair hold comfortable margins over their next fast compatriot but will need to be on their game so as not to let the other one gain an upper edge in medley relay selection.