2026 French Elite Championships: Day 3 Finals Live Recap

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
• Live Results
• SwimSwam Meet Preview
• SwimSwam Recaps
  • Prelims: Day 1 | Day 2 | Day 3
  • Finals: Day 1 | Day 2

The second night of finals at the 2026 French Elite Championships kicks off tonight, featuring the women’s 100m butterfly, men’s 100m butterfly, women’s 50m backstroke, men’s 200m breaststroke, and women’s 400m IM.

Leon Marchand will not be swimming after straining an abductor this morning in the heats as he placed 9th. He would still have made the final after #5 seed and 100 breast champ Carl Aitkaci scratched, but Marchand has pulled out and will be assessed tomorrow morning before racing again. In his absence, Lucien Vergnes will be in lane 4 after clocking 2:12.23 this morning.

There are French record holders in action tonight even without Marchand and the also-injured Maxime Grousset. Marie Wattel is the #5 seed in the 100 fly and will aim to add a third event to her European Championships lineup, but Lilou Ressencourt is the top seed tonight after posting a 58.48, less than two tenths off the 58.30 she needs to qualify herself.

The top four women in French history will lock horns in the 50 back, with Mary-Ambre Moluh the fastest woman this morning in 27.42. Analia Pigree, the French record holder in 27.27, will be in lane 5 next to her, with Beryl Gastaldello in lane 3. Paulie Mahieu, who took bronze last year in 27.84, was 28.29 this morning to qualify fourth.

Michel Arkhangelskiy is back in the pool as the top seed in the 100 fly, two days after posting an Asian record of 22.91 in the 50 fly. The Bahraini swimmer swam 51.91 this morning as the only swimmer under 52 seconds, with Clement Secchi the fastest Frenchman in 52.44.

Cyrielle Duhamel will aim to reprise her national title in the 400 IM from the 2025 edition, heading into the final as the only swimmer under 4:55. She clocked 4:38.38 12 months ago, and will need to be in similar form to hit the European Championships qualifying time of 4:41.57.

Stay tuned for live updates.

Women’s 100m Butterfly — Final

• World Record: 54.33 – Gretchen Walsh, USA (2026)
• World Junior Record: 56.33 – Mizuki Hirai, JPN (2024)
• French Record: 56.14 – Charlotte Bonnet (2024)
• French European Championship Qualifying Time: 58.30

GOLD – Marie Wattel, 57.90
SILVER – Lilou Ressencourt, 59.37
BRONZE – Lily-Rose Berhelot, 59.44

Wattel reprised her first 50 from the heats this morning, blasting out to touch first at the halfway point in 26.67, the only swimmer under 27 seconds. Top seed Lilou Ressencourt was second at that point in 27.34, just off the 27.25 she posted this morning.

However, Wattel pulled away down the second 50, with her split of 31.23 beating Ressencourt by nearly a second, and being 1.71 seconds faster than Wattel’s closing 50 this morning. She took the win in 57.90, dipping under the 58.30 qualifying standard for the European Championships.

Ressencourt faded down the second half of the race to take silver in 59.37, nearly being caught by Lili-Rose Berthelot (59.44) and Adelaide Meuter (59.48). Ressencourt added nearly a second from her 58.48 swim this morning.

Georgian swimmer Ana Nizharadze was half a second off her national record in 6th with a 1:00.06.

Men’s 100m Butterfly — Final

• World Record: 49.45 – Caeleb Dressel, USA (2021)
• World Junior Record: 50.62 – Kristof Milak, HUN (2017)
• French Record: 49.62 – Maxime Grousset (2025)
• French European Championship Qualifying Time: 51.81

GOLD – Michel Arkhangelskiy, 51.41
SILVER – Amaury Albar, 51.82 
BRONZE – Angel Exposito, 52.17

Michel Arkhangelskiy took a deserved win in the 100 fly, posting his second-fastest swim ever as he touched in 51.41. He was one of three swimmers out in under 24 seconds, clocking 23.78 to lead Alexandre D’Agata (23.85) and Cement Secchi (23.99).

He had the second-fastest closing 50 in the field at 27.63, as he pulled away from that pair to take a comfortable victory in a new Bahraini record. Both Secchi and D’Agata faded hard, closing in 28.39 and 28.57 respectively as Secchi placed 4th in 52.38 and D’Agata 4th in 52.42.

That was over a second off Secchi’s best of 51.06 from this meet last summer, and leaves the 200 fly as his last chance to make the French Team for the European Championships this summer after he placed 3rd in the 50 fly on Saturday.

Silver in this race went to the hard-charging Amaury Albar, who closed in 27.49 as he set a huge best of 51.82 out of lane 7. He came into this meet with a best of 52.60, neared that this morning in 52.76, before throwing down a huge swim this evening. He fell an agonising 0.01 outside the European Championships qualification time, but may well have earned a medley relay spot.

Angel Exposito also set a new lifetime best for 3rd, clocking 52.17 to shave four tenths off his time from last year.

Women’s 50m Backstroke — Final

• World Record: 26.86 – Kaylee McKeown, AUS (2023)
• World Junior Record: 27.49 – Minna Atherton, AUS (2016)
• French Record: 27.27 – Analia Pigree (2022)
• French European Championship Qualifying Time: 27.90

GOLD – Mary-Ambre Moluh, 27.20 *French Record*
SILVER – Analia Pigree, 27.31
BRONZE – Beryl Gastaldello, 27.62

After Mary-Ambre Moluh dominated in prelims this morning, she went one better tonight with a new French record to go alongisde a national title. She dropped another two tenths of a second,clocking 27.20 to slot herself in at #6 in the season rankings.

Former record holder Analia Pigree was just a tenth of a second behind in 27.31, her fastest swim since winning European gold in 2022 in a her PB of 27.27.

Moluh now ranks second among European women this season, behind only Sara Curtis’ 27.07 Italian Record from the Sette Colli last week. The Cal swimmer lowered her lifetime best in the 100 back to 59.01 at the Porto International meet three weeks, and is in clearly in good form as she heads towards a home European Championships.

Beryl Gastaldello also set a new PB tonight, shaving 0.24 seconds off her best to clock 27.62. All three women dipped under the 27.90 required to add this event to their European Championship schedule, while Pauline Mahieu was just 0.02 outside with a 27.92 for 4th.

Men’s 200m Breaststroke — Final

• World Record: 2:05.48 – Qin Haiyang, CHN (2023)
• World Junior Record: 2:06.59 – Shin Ohashi, JPN (2026)
• French Record: 2:05.85 – Leon Marchand (2024)
• French European Championship Qualifying Time: 2:10.32

GOLD – Antoine Marc, 2:11.48
SILVER – Lucien Vergnes, 2:12.14
BRONZE – Borys Endle, 2:13.36

With no Leon Marchand in tonight’s final, it was left to Antoine Marc to lead the heat out. He was one of only two swimmers, along with top seed Lucien Vergnes, to go out under 30 seconds on the first 50, and hit the halfway point with a lead of 0.71 seconds in 1:03.02,

Vergnes was second at the touch in 1:03.73, with Sebastiem Capogna, Alois Gargulak, and Borys Endle separated by a quarter of a second behind him.

The top two would then hold serve through the next two 50s, as Marc split 34.15/34.30 to Vergnes 34.13/34.28, as Marc took the win in 2:11.48 to 2:12.14. Both swimmer were a couple of second off their respective lifetime bests of 2:09.68 and 2:10.04, both set in 2023.

Endle had the strongest second half of the three battling for bronze, taking 3rd in 2:13.36 to beat Capogna by four tenths of a second. That is a second and a half under his entry time, while Capogna also broke 2:14 for the first time.

No swimmer cracked the 2:10.32 qualifying time for the European Championships, leaving it open to a potential discretionary selection for Marchand.

Women’s 400m IM — Final

• World Record: 4:23.65 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2025)
• World Junior Record: 4:24.38 – Summer McIntosh, CAN (2024)
• French Record: 4:34.17 – Fantine Lesaffre (2018)
• French European Championship Qualifying Time: 4:41.57

GOLD – 
SILVER – 
BRONZE –