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
The first day of the 2026 French Elite Championships wrapped up on Saturday evening. The meet is serving as the primary selection meet for the 2026 European Championships, with last month’s French Junior Championships as the secondary selection meet.
Here’s a quick and basic rundown of the selection procedure for this meet before we get into the roster update after one day.
- The top four swimmers at the meet may be selected to the meet, provided they earn the French qualifying standard in the ‘A’ final at the French Elite Championships
- Subject to availability, athletes who swam qualifying times at the French Junior Championships may be selected to the team
- For the women’s, men’s, and mixed freestyle relays, selection will be proposed for the top four swimmers from the A-final whose combined individual performances meet the required relay time. The times recorded in the heats may be considered to validate the relay time.
After one day of competition, three women and one man have earned individual qualifications based solely on finals swims. Men’s 100 breaststroke champion Carl Aitkaci swam 59.43 in the prelims, which is well under the qualifying standard of 59.75, and may earn a qualifying spot for the 400 medley relay by the discretion of the coaches.
Women’s Individual Qualifiers
- Bertille Cousson (200 backstroke)
- Beryl Gastaldello (100 freestyle)
- Marie Wattel (100 freestyle)
Men’s Individual Qualifiers
- Leon Marchand (400 IM)
Women’s Potential Relay Qualifiers
- Mary Ambre-Moluh (400 FR)
- Albane Cachot (400 FR)
Men’s Potential Relay Qualifiers
- Carl Aitkaci (400 MR)
Potential Junior Qualifiers
- Nathan Muratory (100 backstroke/200 backstroke)
- Sauveur Cristofini (200 freestyle)
Michel Arkhangelsky is qualified…but for Bahrain not France. He got citizenship from this country a few weeks ago. He’s a Russian native but has been living in France since he’s 4 years old. He wanted to race for France but never obtained french citizenship.