2025 Giant Open: Steenbergen, Harvey Each Bag Double Gold

2025 GIANT OPEN (FRA)

• Friday, May 9th – Sunday, May 11th
• Saint-Denis, France
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• Results

The 2025 Giant Open kicked off today from Saint-Denis, France with the host nation taking on visiting competitors from the Netherlands, Great Britain, the United States and beyond.

26-year-old Frenchman Maxime Grousset made his presence known right off the bat in the men’s 100m freestyle.

In tonight’s final, Grousset scored a gold medal-worthy result of 48.25 to beat the field by nearly one and a half seconds.

The Paris relay medalist opened in 22.95 and closed in 25.30 en route to earning the sole time of the field under 49 seconds.

Qatari swimmer Ali Sayed was next to the wall in 49.74 while countryman Corentin Pouillart rounded out the podium in 49.98.

Grousset’s outing cleared the World Aquatics ‘A’ standard of 48.34 needed for this summer’s World Championships, although the nation’s Trials aren’t happening until next month. His result was also just off his season-best of 48.20, a time he registered at the Pro Swim Series in Sacramento to rank 12th in the world.

Post-race, Grousset told the French Swimming Federation, “I’m very happy with my race. I wanted to start fast, I didn’t save that much in the first 50m, I knew it was going to be tough at the end with the current form, but I’m surprised to hold on so far and do a little 48”, it’s nice.

“I have nothing else to say, it’s very good. I felt good, in the glides I came out with a lot of speed, which was a bit lacking at the Games, and I think the work paid off well today. With a difficult morning and a disqualification in the 50m butterfly, my back a bit hard even if it was much better this afternoon, three weeks of intensive work, it’s rather encouraging. It’s a beautiful pool, we should do all the competitions here.”

With Grousset disqualified from the men’s 50m fly, Olympic medalist Ben Proud of Great Britain had one less competitor to worry about.

30-year-old Proud got it done for gold in the sprint, turning in a time of 23.51.

That held off Austria’s Lukas Edl who managed a time of 23.64, just .04 ahead of French swimmer Alexander D’Agata who clinched bronze in 23.68.

Proud has been as quick as 23.21 in the 50m fly this season from last month’s Aquatics GB Championships, the meet which doubled as the nation’s World Championship Trials. Proud qualified for the 50m free at that competition, although he had already been pre-selected via his silver from the Paris Games.

Dutch Olympian Marrit Steenbergen was one of two women who doubled up on golds to kick off their Giant Open campaign.

The 25-year-old national record holder first topped the 50m free podium, ripping a time of 24.68 as the 5th-quickest result of her career.

Steenbergen’s lifetime best checks in at the 24.42 logged two years ago in Eindhoven.

French Olympian Beryl Gastaldello joined her in the sub-25-second zone, clocking 24.74 ahead of Sam Van Nunen who bagged the bronze in 25.29.

For their efforts, Steenbergen now takes over slot #12 in the season’s world rankings while Gastaldello drops down one to #13.

Steenbergen then contested an off-event of the women’s 100m breaststroke where she wound up on top in 1:08.86. That marked her first-ever foray under the 1:10 barrier, with her racing the event most likely as a tune-up for her 200m IM.

30-year-old Gastaldello told French swimming, “We’re not going to lie to each other (laughs)! If it hadn’t been for Marrit (Steenbergen), frankly, good. But finishing second, I don’t like it. Otherwise, I wouldn’t do this sport. That’s the only small black mark, you also have to look at what’s good.

“It was a good race, I hesitated a bit a lot on the sidelines and, without realizing it, the micro hundredths of hesitation ended up on the scoreboard, but that’s how it is.

“I’ve been consistent all season, so that’s a good omen. Now, I’m not at all fresh, we really didn’t let up. I think Michel (Chrétien, her coach at INSEP) wants to see what we can give in a state of fatigue, so I’m satisfied.

“I would have liked to win, but it’s only a postponement. It’s a beautiful pool, we really have the feeling of being in a world championship.”

Canada’s Mary-Sophie Harvey continues to produce solid in-season swimming, highlighted by her 400m IM and 200m free double this evening.

In the former, 25-year-old Harvey posted a result of 4:35.73 to beat the field handily in the only sub-4:40 effort.

She’s now ranked 5th in the world in the event with next month’s Canadian Trials on the horizon.

Her gold medal-worthy time of 1:56.76 in the 200m free was also a season-best, crushing the 1:58.32 notched at February’s Dubai Open Swimming Championships. She now represents the world’s 9th-swiftest performer on the season.

Additional Notes

• Anastasia Kirpichnikova turned in a time of 8:35.14 to take the women’s 800m free event by over 4 seconds. The former Russian swimmer owns a lifetime best of 8:18.77 from the prelims of this race last year in Paris. There, she settled for 8:22.80 as the 7th-place finisher. On her performance this evening, Kirpichnikova said, “I’m very happy and surprised to have won and to have achieved this time. I really didn’t think I’d achieve this time. The whole week has been tough. The pool is very good, even though it was a little warm, I felt good in the water. I feel more confident now. It’s much better than when I arrived.”
• David Aubry grabbed gold in the men’s 400m free in a result of 3:51.14, although he’ll need to be much quicker to be in the realm of newly minted world record holder Lukas Märtens of Germany who rocked 3:39.96 last month.
• The men’s 200m breast saw Antoine Marc register 2:10.84 as the top performer ahead of next month’s Trials.
• Bertille Cousson was too quick to catch in the women’s 200m back, producing an effort of 2:10.89 to beat out clubmate Lou-Anne Guiton who was next to the wall in 2:13.21.
• Greek champion Apostolos Siskos nabbed 200m fly gold in 1:57.40 as a follow-up to the 1:56.63 200m back performance he put up last weekend at the ACropolis Open to qualify for the World Championships in that event.
• Finally, we saw a tie in the men’s 50m backstroke, courtesy of Frenchman Yohann Ndoye-Brouard and American Michael Andrew. The pair simultaneously touched in 25.18 to outperform Austria’s Bernhard Reitshammer and his result of 25.26 as the bronze medalist.