2024 GIANT OPEN – SAINT-GERMAIN-EN-LAYE
- Saturday, March 22nd & Sunday, March 23rd
- Saint-German-En-Laye, France
- LCM (50m)
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The 2024 Giant Open kicked off today from Saint-Germain-en-Laye with swimmers from multiple nations taking to the pool.
Among them was 22-year-old Noe Ponti who fired off a time of 50.93 to win the men’s 100m butterfly.
Olympic medalist Ponti opened in 24.10 and closed in 26.83 to produce the only time of the field under the 51-second barrier. His result represented a new season-best, overtaking the 51.07 logged in Nice last week. The Swiss ace now ranks #2 in the world this season.
Ponti’s lifetime best remains at the 50.74 which garnered him the bronze medal at the 2020 Olympic Games. Tonight’s effort checks in at #4 among Ponti’s best-ever performances and first sub-51-second time outside of a major competition.
Noe Ponti‘s Top 5 LCM 100 Butterfly Times
- 50.74, 2020 Olympic Games (2021)
- 50.76, 2020 Olympic Games (2021)
- 50.87, 2022 European Championships
- 50.93, 2024 Giant Open Series
- 51.00, 2023 World Championships
Behind Ponti was 2023 World Championships gold medalist Maxime Grousset. 24-year-old Grousset touched in 51.66, just off the 51.47 turned in last week.
American Michael Andrew rounded out the podium in 52.32 while South African Olympian Chad Le Clos was relegated to 4th in 52.48.
2023-2024 LCM Men 100 Fly
PONTI
50.16
| 2 | Matthew William Temple | AUS | 50.25 | 12/03 |
| 3 | Caeleb DRESSEL | USA | 50.84 | 04/12 |
| 3 | Hubert KOS | HUN | 50.84 | 04/12 |
| 5 | Andrei MINAKOV | RUS | 50.86 | 04/16 |
25-year-old Emma Terebo ripped a new lifetime best en route to taking the women’s 200 back event.
Terebo stopped the clock in 2:08.88 to slice .20 off her previous PB of 2:09.08 put up at January’s Luxembourg Euro Meet. Splits for Terebo’s effort tonight included 1:02.55/1:06.33.
Pauline Mahieu settled for silver in 2:09.62 and Bertille Cousson collected bronze in 2:12.39.
Terebo’s time keeps her ranked 3rd among all-time fastest French women performers.
Top 5 French Women’s LCM 200 Backstroke Performers All-Time
- Laure Manaudou – 2:06.65, 2008
- Alexianne Castel – 2:07.55, 2009
- Emma Terebo – 2:08.88, 2024
- Alexandra Putra – 2:09.35, 2008
- Esther Baron – 2:09.59, 2007
Anastasia Kirpichnikova continued her winning ways from Nice by topping the women’s 400m free podium tonight.
Kirpichnikova, who now represents France after switching citizenship from Russia, punched a time of 4:09.36. That crushed the 4:13.95 she registered to place 15th in the race at this year’s World Championships.
Yohann Ndoye-Brouard was too quick to catch in the men’s 100m back, beating countryman Mewen Tomac in a tight battle to the wall.
Ndoye-Brouard turned in a time of 53.20 while Tomac settled for silver in 53.43. Switzerland’s World Championships medalist Roman Mityukov bagged bronze in 54.58.
This was an identical podium to last week in Nice but with different times. Ndoye-Brouard hit 53.57 in that earlier performance and Tomac clocked 53.96. Mityukov was faster in Nice with a mark of 54.26.
Additional Notes
- Frenchman Joris Bouchaut won the men’s 800m free in 7:53.25 to beat the field by over 5 seconds.
- Beryl Gastaldello of the host nation secured gold in the women’s 50m fly, hitting 26.24 for the victory. Mary-Ambre Moluh was next to the wall in 26.49 and Maty Ndoye-Brouard also earned hardware in 26.96 for bronze. Last week’s winner, Melanie Henique (25.90), is not competing here.
- The men’s 200m breast saw Lucien Vergnes earn the win in a time of 2:10.68 and Lisa Mamie took the women’s 100m breast sprint in 1:08.43.
- Olympic bronze medalist Jeremy Desplanches posted 2:00.59 in the men’s 200m IM to earn the win.
- Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey carried the momentum into this week from a series of stellar performances in Nice. 24-year-old Harvey won the women’s 400m IM just as she did before, clocking 4:38.00 as the sole swimmer under 4:40. Last week she put up a time of 4:36.79 to fall just outside her best-ever time of 436.48 from 2017.
- Frenchman Nans Mazellier logged a winning result of 1:47.78, getting to the wall about a second ahead of the pack. Brazilian Breno Correia snagged silver while Roman Fuchs of the host nation turned in 1:48.86. Correia won this event last week in Nice in a result of 1:48.72.
- Analia Pigree posted 27.76 as the quickest 50m backstroker of the women’s field. That held off teammate Pauline Mahieu who was next in line at 28.06. Mary-Ambre Moluh hit 28.11 to round out the podium.
- Joao Gomes Junior of Brazil touched in 27.48 as the swiftest men’s 50m breaststroker.
Unbelievably trash performance from the seller of the century Michael Andrew
Michael Andrew 1 gold, 2 silver 2 bonze in finale.
At a small meet no one’s ever heard of. He should be absolutely dominating right now but he’s pulling out times that would barely squeak into semis at US Trials.
He beat Chad le Clos in the 100 fly though…
Le Clos is only a shadow of his former self, hardly unsurprisingly
Ponti is the real deal. Dude is super consistent.
In the 200 free, Cal commit, Nans Mazellier has cut 2 seconds from his liftetime best in 2 weeks.
1:49.74 (PB from 2023) -> 1.49.59 (Nice prelims) -> 1:49.03 (Nice semis) -> 1:48.47 (Nice final) -> 1:47.78 (here)