2025 French Elite Championships: Day 6 Prelims Recap

2025 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Saturday, June 14th – Thursday, June 19th, 2025
• Prelims at 8 am local (2 am ET)/Finals at 6 pm local (Noon ET)
• Montpellier, France
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Entries
• Live Results
• Live Stream
• Live Recaps
  • Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3 | Day 4 | Day 5

We’ve reached the final day of competition at the 2025 French Elite Championships, and it promises to be an exciting one. This morning got off to a fast start, with another five events on the lineup: the men’s 100 fly, 50 back and 400 free, and the women’s 50 free and 400 free.

The session kicked off with the men’s 100 fly, which saw Maxime Grousset claim the top qualifying spot in 51.12, about .3 off of his season-best (50.86). Grousset won this event at the 2024 competition and went on to place 5th at the Paris Olympics, so he will certainly be looking to defend his title tonight in finals. Chasing him down will be fellow Olympian Clement Secchi, who was also the runner-up behind Grousset at this meet last year. Secchi posted a massive season-best time of 51.57, just .4 off of his lifetime best, to secure the #2 spot heading into finals.

Another familiar name in the mix is Michel Arkhangelsky, who recently wrapped up his first season at Florida State. Coming off a successful NCAA campaign, Arkhangelsky took 3rd this morning in 52.69, over a second off of the lifetime best (51.48) that he posted just a few weeks ago.

Beryl Gastaldello turned in a strong performance in the 50 free, throwing down a time of 24.55, which is just .04 off of her lifetime best that she posted at this meet last year. Claiming the top spot with a lead of .4 heading into finals, Gastaldello should be the frontrunner to pick up the gold tonight. Securing the runner-up spot behind her in 24.95 was Florine Gaspard, who won the 50 breast last night. With a personal best time of 24.42 from April, she could give Gastaldello a run for her money. Mary-Ambre Moluh, who just wrapped up her debut season at Cal Berkeley, snagged the #3 spot in 25.11, shaving .08 off of her lifetime best.

Melanie Henique, the French record-holder in the 50 free, notably finished 13th in 25.87 this morning, over 1.5 seconds off of her record-setting swim (24.34) back in 2020.

The men’s 50 back is looking like it will be dominated by some familiar names tonight, as Olympians Mewen Tomac and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard went 1-2 this morning, turning in times of 24.88 and 24.98, respectively. Earlier this week, Ndoye-Brouard prevailed in the 100 back (52.81) while Tomac claimed silver (53.27), so it will be interesting to see who walks away with the gold tonight. Just behind Ndoye-Brouard this morning was Lysander Osman, who threw down a massive lifetime best time of 25.01 to knock .36 off of his time; he will also be a top contender for the victory later.

The women’s 400 IM saw Cyrielle Duhamel dominate the competition this morning, posting a 4:45.28 to secure the top spot heading into finals by over seven seconds. Thailand’s Kamonchanok Kwanmuang took 2nd in 4:52.68, and it turned into a tight race for 3rd behind her; Anastasia Urbaniak and Clara Mougenot tied for 3rd in 4:54.68, while Camille Tissandie secured the #5 spot in 4:54.79.

The men’s 400 IM final is shaping up to be a rematch from the 200 IM, as the same top four finishers have repeated as the top qualifiers in the 400. Emilien Mattenet, the 200 free champion, took the top spot; he posted a time of 4:24.59, making him the only competitor in the field to go under 4:25. Not far behind was Jaouad Syoud, who turned in a 4:25.43. Also vying for a top spot are Jacques Salettes and Tom Remy, who qualified 3rd (4:25.90) and 4th (4:26.24), respectively.