2026 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Saturday, June 27th – Thursday, July 2nd
- Piscine Raymond Sommet, Saint-Etienne, France
- LCM (50m)
- French Selection Criteria for European Championships
- Meet Central
- Event Schedule
- Psych Sheets
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- SwimSwam Meet Preview
- SwimSwam Recaps
Day 2 of the 2026 French Elite Championships, the only day without a Leon Marchand swim on the schedule, began today with the women’s 50 fly. There was no Beryl Gastaldello, after she took silver in the 100 free last night, leaving national record holder Melanie Henique to claim the top seed in 26.00. Marie Wattel will be in lane 5 tonight after clocking a 26.24 heats swim.
They will be chasing the 26.14 qualifying time for the European Championships, a mark which Henique surpassed this morning. Wattel is already on the team having won the 100 free in 53.96 last night. Jeanne De Murcia (26.31) and ASU’s Albane Cachot (26.38) were close behind and are also in sight of that qualifying time.
Henique owns the national record with a 25.17 from the 2021 French Championships, and won the event last year in 25.97. A repeat would be enough for her to qualify for a home European Championships.
There were some big misses in the men’s 100 free, with both Yann le Goff and Rafael Fente-Damers missing the ‘A’ final. Le Goff was 9th in 49.55 with Fente-Damers 12th in 49.59, mere hundredths outside of the 49.47 it took to make the top eight.
Both men swam at the World Championships last year. Fente-Damers swam the individual 100 free, placing 16th in the semi-finals, while le Goff was a key relay swimmer and won silver on the men’s medley relay.
The top seed in their absence was CN Marseille’s Alexandre Chalender, who sliced 0.11 seconds off his PB to clock 49.05. Roman Fuchs was just behind in 49.10, with junior sensation Sauveur Cristofini 3rd in 49.24. Mehdy Metella, the former French record holder in the 100 fly, swam his fastest time since the Tokyo Olympics with a 49.44 for 5th.
With the European Championships qualifying time standing at 48.54, all finalists will need to drop time tonight to guarantee a spot. As a reminder, last year’s champion Maxime Grousset is currently rehabbing a foot injury, but should be in line to return to fitness before the European Championships in Paris on 10-16 August.
The women’s 100 breast was a relatively subdued affair, with no swimmer breaking 1:08 this morning. Chloe Braun sliced a tenth off her PB to claim the top seed in 1:08.42, continuing a great season which saw her place 16th at NCAAs for UC-San Diego. Lucy Vasquez (1:08.69) and Cyrielle Duhamel (1:08.96) were the only other swimmers to break 1:09.
The qualification time stands at a stiff 1:06.89, more than four tenths of a second under Charlotte Bonnet’s French record of 1:07.30. The winner of the event should however be assured of a medley relay spot.
The men’s 200 back looks to be the race of the night, with the top four swimmers separated by just 0.14 seconds. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard, who owns the national record with the 1:54.47 he swam in the semi-finals at the 2025 World Championships, took top spot in 1:58.42, 0.08 seconds ahead of the former French record holder Mewen Tomac. Tunisia’s Mohamed-Yassine Ben Abbes, who trains in Grenoble, was less than two tenths off his Tunisian record of 1:58.35 with a 1:58.51 for 3rd, and 2025 Worlds swimmer Antoine Herlem clocked 1:58.56 for 4th.
Tomac missed out in this event last year, placing 3rd, and will be out to regain his spot. Ndoye-Brouard, who matched his younger sister Maty’s feat from the 50 fly by making an ‘A’ final for tonight, shut it down on the final 50 with a 31.90 split and will be one to watch tonight.
Lucile Tessariol led the women’s 200 free in 2:02.05, a single hundredth ahead of Maeline Bessard. With the European Championships qualifying time standing at 1:58.33, it seems unlikely that France will have a representative in either this event or the 4×200 free relay, which requires a combined 7:58.00 from the top four swimmers. The top four this morning combined for 8:08.85
ASU’s Albane Cachot, who was one of the three women entered under 2:00, clocked a 2:04.92 in her second race of the morning, splitting 58.61/1:06.31. Top seed Marine Jehl moved safely through in 4th as she posted a 2:02.50, four seconds off her entry time of 1:58.17
The final event of the morning was the early heats of the men’s 800 free. Swann Plaza of Dauphins Toulouse dropped a second from his entry time to be the only swimmer this morning under 8:10 in 8:09.56. David Aubry is the top seed tonight in 7:48.41, faster than the European Championships qualifying time of 7:50.50.
