FFN Golden Tour in Nancy: Hosszu, Metella, Verraszto Out Front After Day 1

FFN Golden Tour Stage Four – Nancy, France

• Friday May 22nd-Sunday May 24th, 2015
• Prelims 9 am GMT+1 (3 am EST/12 am PDT)
• Finals 6 pm (12 pm EDT/9 am PDT), Sunday 3:30 pm (9:30 am EDT/6:30 am PDT)
• Live Video
• Live Results

The fourth and final stage of the French Federation’s Golden Tour began on Friday in Nancy, France. After a strong Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte last weekend, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary topped the leaderboard once again with three podia (in the 200 back, 100 breast, and 100 fly) out of four events. It would have been four-four-four, but Hosszu scratched the 50 free final after having tied for first in prelims with 25.45 (she went 25.32 to win the event at the Nice stage of the tour).

For the French contingent, it is starting out to be a much slower meet than the Marseille stage. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, as Marseille was a tune-up meet for France’s Nationals/World Championships Trials in Limoges at the beginning of April. Since then, the Kazan-bound athletes have been back at work, something many of them talked about in post-race interviews.

The first event in finals was the men’s 800 free. The men and women alternate 800/1500 per tour stage, so this is the second men’s 800 in the series. Damien Joly of Antibes won in 7:56.38, about a half-second faster than he was in Amiens, but 4.5 behind his pace at French Nationals in April. Germany’s Poul Zellman and Clemens Rapp took second and third in 8:04.14 and 8:06.32, respectively.

The women kicked things off with the 50 free. Greece’s Theodora Drakou, who had tied with Hosszu in prelims with 25.45, was just off her morning time in finals. Drakou won in 25.53 ahead of Nice’s Anna Santamans (25.61) and Germany’s Nina Kost (25.70).

In the men’s 50 free, Florent Manaudou of Marseille carried the race with 21.97. Greece’s Odyssefs Meladinis (22.28) and Kristian Gkolomeev (22.32) completed the podium. Manaudou is the current world leader in the 50 free so far this season with 21.57 from Limoges; his three other 50 frees on the Golden Tour were 21.89-21.81-21.71.

Hosszu cracked an impressive 2:06.81 to win the women’s 200 back by 5.3 seconds. The swim moved her to second in the world so far this season, and barely missed breaking the Hungarian national record of 2:06.62, set by the legendary Krisztina Egerszegi at the 1991 European Championships in Athens.

France’s Camille Gheorghiu from Antibes took second with 2:12.14, just a tad better than her second-place finish in Limoges. Third went to Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto, who trains in Nice. A couple of seconds off her winning time from Limoges, Verraszto nevertheless made the podium here by 1/100, touching out Switzerland’s Martina Van Berkel, 2:14.69 to 2:14.70.

The French were shut out of the men’s 200 back podium. Germany’s Christian Diener won his second 200 back of the series, this time a half-second faster than in Nice with 1:58.32. Hungary’s David Verraszto was second in 2:03.93, just edging Lukas Rauftlin of Switzerland (2:03.95). Marseille’s Benjamin Stasiulis, who finished sixth in 2:09.36 (he was 2:01 in Nice and 1:59 in Marseille), had just completed the 800 free and admitted in a post-race interview, “I didn’t think it would be that hard.”

Charlotte Bonnet of Nice won the 100 breast in 1:09.30, just slightly in front of Hosszu (1:09.58). Toulouse’s Adeline Williams was third in 1:10.83. Bonnet, who is France’s top breaststroker, was almost a second off what she swam at Limoges to qualify for Kazan. She told reporters after her race that, with the possible exception of the medley relay, she wouldn’t swim breast at World Championships; she competes in the event “for fun” and, of course, to help her freestyle.

The men’s version of the 100 breast was as disappointing for the French as the women’s race; the Hexagone’s top breaststroker, Marseille’s Giacomo Perez Dortona, went 1:02.08 for fourth. The podium was exclusively German, with Marco Koch winning in 1:00.97 ahead of compatriots Hendrick Feldwehr (1:01.28) and Christian Vom Lehn (1:01.68)

Germany’s Alexandra Wenk won the women’s 100 fly in 58.77, about 6/10 off her time from German Nationals in April. Hosszu very nearly even-split her race, making up a 1.3-second deficit at the 50 turn to pull even with Nice’s Marie Wattel at the finish; the pair tied with 59.05 for the silver medal.

Marseille’s Mehdy Metella claimed his fourth gold medal in the men’s 100 fly over the Golden Tour series, this time with 53.51 (his other winning times were 52.86-52.41-52.13). Germany’s Philip Heintz took second in 53.77, while Stefanos Dimitriadis of Greece placed third in 54.14.

Nancy Leaderboard After Day One

FFN Golden Tour

As a reminder, The Golden Tour is a four-stage series, not unlike the Arena Pro Series here in the United States, with total prize winnings of €140,000. For each meet, the top 8 women and top 8 men will share €25,000 in prize money. Event winners collect 12 points for each gold, 9 for silver, and 7 for bronze; the next five finishers get 5-4-3-2-1. At the conclusion of the meet, the high scores are calculated and the purse is split. At the conclusion of the series, a series bonus will be awarded to the top 8 women and top 8 men, based on their top 6 performances at each meet.

The four stages of the Golden Tour comprised:

• Nice – January 30-February 1
• Amiens – February 13-15
• Marseille – March 6-8
• Nancy – May 22-24