Nathan Muratory Blasts 1:55.88 French Junior Record in 200 Backstroke

2026 EUROPEAN JUNIOR SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

Nathan Muratory swam a massive personal best in the boys’ 200 backstroke final, stopping the clock in 1:55.88 to set a new French U18 record and become the 3rd-fastest French man in history in the event.

BOYS 200 BACKSTROKE – FINAL

GOLD – Nathan Muratory (FRA), 1:55.88
SILVER – Daniel Ransom (GBR), 1:59.00
BRONZE – Mateusz Bienkowski (POL), 1:59.19

Muratory won the event by more than three seconds with his 1:55.88 coming in ahead of Daniel Ransom‘s 1:59.00 for 2nd place overall.

He took a second-and-a-half off his previous best time of 1:57.31, which he set at the French Elite Championships a few weeks ago to earn his way onto the French European Championships team.

Muratory also shattered the French U18 record in the event, taking more than a second off the previous time of 1:57.15 set by Merlin Ficher in July of 2023.

Split Comparison

Splits Former Record — 1:57.15, Merlin Ficher (2023) New Record — 1:55.88, Nathan Muratory (2026)
Muratory’s Former Best — 1:57.31 (2026)
50 27.76 27.36 27.77
100 29.39 29.29 29.58
150 29.92 29.84 30.09
200 30.08 29.39 29.88

Muratory was faster on all four 50s than the former record and than his former best time. His final 50 of 29.39 was the biggest difference maker, as he swam under 30 seconds on all four 50s, and was seven tenths faster on the final 50 than the former record time.

He now holds all three French U18 backstroke records. This swim also makes him the 3rd fastest performer in French history in the event, coming in only behind French record holder Yohann Ndoye-Brouard and Mewen Tomac.

Updated Top Five French Men All-Time

  1. Yohann Ndoye-Brouard — 1:54.47 (2025)
  2. Mewen Tomac — 1:55.38 (2024)
  3. Nathan Muratory — 1:55.88 (2026)
  4. Benjamin Stasiulis — 1:56.39 (2012)
  5. Antoine Herlem — 1:56.42 (2021)

Finally, Muratory’s swim will move him up to 12th in the world this year, two hundredths behind Oliver Morgan‘s 1:55.86.

2025-2026 LCM Men 200 BACK

2Hubert
Kos
HUN1:54.2112/06
3Pieter
Coetze
RSA1:55.2604/18
4Lee
Juho
KOR1:55.3412/16
5Roman
MITYUKOV
SUI1:55.3604/11
6Hidekazu
Takehara
JPN1:55.5009/04
7YUMEKI
KOJIMA
JPN1:55.6206/06
8John
SHORTT
IRL1:55.7004/11
9Alexey
Tkachev
RUS1:55.7606/09
10Lukas
MARTENS
GER1:55.8504/17
11Oliver
MORGAN
GBR1:55.8604/19
12Nathan
MURATORY
FRA1:55.8807/10
13Hugo
GONZALEZ DE OLIVEIRA
ESP1:55.9506/27
14Luke
Greenbank
GBR1:56.0104/19
15Georgy
Smirnov
RUS1:56.1104/19
View Top 26»

Muratory is committed to swim at the University of Michigan in the fall.

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3 Comments
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Hook EM
35 minutes ago

Stay in Ann Arbor… fade to irrelevance. Come to Austin to be a champ. The choice is yours.

-Hook EM

Tomek
49 minutes ago

Next thing you know he will be training under Bowman…
I just realized he apparently committed to  University of Michigan

Last edited 46 minutes ago by Tomek
CasualSwimmer
54 minutes ago

Speaking of frenchmen, Marchand’s new docuseries following him after Paris just came out