Metella’s 48.76 Among Highlights on Day 2 of Golden Tour Marseille

2018 FFN Golden Tour Camille Muffat – Marseille

• Friday, April 6 – Sunday, April 8, 2018
• Prelims 8:30am GMT+1 (2:30am ET/11:30pm PT); finals 5:30pm on Friday (11:30am ET/8:30am PT), 6:30pm on Saturday (12:30pm ET/9:30am PT), and 5:15pm on Sunday (11:15am ET/8:15am PT)
• Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille
• 50m
• Championship Central
• Psych sheet
• Live results

Day 2

The FFN Golden Tour Camille-Muffat is getting faster, as would be expected, the closer we get to France’s Elite Nationals at the end of May. Day 2 of the Marseille stage kicked off with a surprise victory by France’s Hugo Sagnes in the 400 free (3:51.37). The #7 seed took 6/10 off his seed time to just beat Tunisia’s Mehdi Lagili (3:51 66, best by 3/10) in a thrilling finish. Behind them were distance stalwarts Jordan Pothain (3:53.52), Nicolas D’Oriano (3:53.65), Yasunari Hirai of Japan (3:53.86), and Roman Fuchs (3:54.16), all of whom came to the wall together.

There was no surprise in the women’s 200 free final; Charlotte Bonnet swam her signature race in 1:56.83 for the win, notching a world top-10 time, but not her season-best (she was 1:56.61 in Milan last month). Bonnet has been working on her range, and while her 400 isn’t that impressive (she went 4:16 at the Golden Tour in Nice, and hasn’t broken 4:10 since 2014), she is progressing in her 50 and 100. Bonnet broke 25 seconds for the first time in Saturday night’s 50 free final, although so did Marie Wattel, who touched her out for the win, 24.85 to 24.89. Melanie Henique was 3rd in that race with 25.26. It should be noted that Wattel broke the 2-minute barrier for the first time in the 200 free, going 1:59.36 in morning heats before scratching the final to concentrate on her 50. Russia’s Anna Egorova, who won both the 800 and 1500 on Friday, went 2:00.07 to place second to Bonnet in the 200 free final.

Other notable women’s races included the PB-by-5-seconds 2:13.33 for Margaux Fabre to win the 200 fly ahead of Gwladys Larzul (2.13.81), who dropped 1.1 seconds. Mathilde Cini won the 100 back in 1:01.29, narrowly beating Turkey’s Ekaterina Avramova (1:01.35), who dropped another half-second after taking 1 full second off her entry time at the Sarcelles stage last month. Fanny Deberghes (2:28.67) and Fantine Lesaffre (2:29.13) swam an excellent race in the 200 breast; both were within a couple of tenths of their bests. Lesaffre warmed down and immediately swam the final of the 200 IM, winning handily over Great Britain’s Alicia Wilson (2:16.48) and Camille Dauba (2:16.67) with 2:14.55. Lesaffre was only 1.5 seconds off her seed time, an impressive turnaround.

David Verraszto of Hungary pulled off his own double, winning the 200 fly (2:00.30) and 200 IM (2:03.54), although he was about 3 seconds slower in each event than he was in Sarcelles. The up-and-coming French 200 flyers and 200 IMers made a good showing behind him, though. 17-year-olds Clement Henry (2:03.05) and Kyllian Brenon (2:03.39) finshed third and fourth in the fly and Mewen Tomac (2:03.69) dropped 6/10 to break his own National Age Group record for 17-year-olds and place second in the IM.

Marseille’s Jean Dencausse cruised to a 2:15.28 win in the men’s 200 breast, coming to the wall nearly 2 body lengths in front of Tunisia’s Wassim Elloumi (2:17.46) and Florian Da Silva (2:18.57, PBx1.5 seconds). After qualifying third out of heats, Hungary’s Verraszto was disqualified in the final of the 200 breast. In the 100 back, Greece’s Apostolos Christou took 2/10 off his time to go 53.82 for the win. Paul-Gabriel Bedel was within 1/100 of his seed time with his second-place 54.81, and Stanislas Huille dropped 2/10 in finishing third with 55.56.

The men wrapped up Saturday’s final session with another Mehdy Metella–Jérémy Stravius head-to-head battle. After Metella edged Stravius 23.93 to 24.14 in Friday night’s 50 free final, he did it again in the 100: 48.76 to 49.09. Metella, who sat out the first two stages of the 2018 Golden Tour while on the mend from a badly sprained ankle that cut short his winter season, notched a world’s top-20 time in front of his home crowd. Metella now ranks 16th, while Stravius improved to being just a couple hundredths outside of the top-25. He won both the Nice and Sarcelles stages with 49.60.

Saturday Finals

• Men’s 400 Meter Freestyle – Hugo Sagnes (FRA) 3:51.37
• Women’s 200 Meter Freestyle – Charlotte Bonnet (FRA) 1:56.83
• Men’s 200 Meter Butterfly – David Verraszto (HUN) 2:00.30
• Women’s 200 Meter Butterfly – Margaux Fabre (FRA) 2:13.33
• Men’s 100 Meter Backstroke – Apostolos Christou (GRE) 53.82
• Women’s 100 Meter Backstroke – Mathilde Cini (FRA) 1:01.29
• Men’s 200 Meter Breaststroke – Jean Dencausse (FRA) 2:15.28
• Women’s 200 Meter Breaststroke – Fanny Deberghes (FRA) 2:28.67
• Men’s 200 Meter IM – David Verraszto (HUN) 2:03.54
• Women’s 200 Meter IM – Fantine Lesaffre (FRA) 2:14.55
• Men’s 100 Meter Freestyle – Mehdy Metella (FRA) 48.77
• Women’s 50 Meter Freestyle – Marie Wattel (FRA) 24.85

Friday Finals

• Women’s 1500 Meter Freestyle – Anna Egorova (RUS) 17:01.19
• Men’s 800 Meter Freestyle – Joris Bouchaut (FRA) 8:03.21
• Women’s 800 Meter Freestyle – Anna Egorova (RUS) 8:36.44
• Men’s 1500 Meter Freestyle – Damien Joly (FRA) 15:10.15
• Women’s 400 Meter IM – Fantine Lesaffre (FRA) 4:42.43
• Men’s 400 Meter IM – David Verraszto (HUN) 4:17.03
• Women’s 50 Meter Backstroke – Mathilde Cini (FRA) 28.46
• Men’s 50 Meter Backstroke – Apostolos Christou (GRE) 25.21
• Women’s 50 Meter Breaststroke – Fanny Deberghes (FRA) 31.46
• Men’s 50 Meter Breaststroke – Lawrence Palmer (GBR) 27.88
• Women’s 50 Meter Butterfly – Mélanie Henique (FRA) 25.63
• Men’s 50 Meter Butterfly – Mehdy Metella (FRA) 23.93

Top 5 after Stage 2 of FFN Golden Tour Camille Muffat