2023 MEETING NICE CAMILLE MUFFAT
- Wednesday, March 15th & Thursday, March 16th
- Nice, France
- LCM (50m)
- SwimSwam Preview
- Results
The second of three elite swimming competitions began today as the Meeting Nice Camille Muffat got underway with many of the same competitors we saw in Marseille last weekend.
As revealed earlier this year, the French Swimming Federation (“FFN”) instituted its inaugural Giant Open tour, a nine-day, three-stop “tour de France” that is taking place from March 11, 2023, to March 19, 2023, featuring six days of racing in three of the Hexagon’s most iconic swim cities: Marseille, Nice, and Paris.
We just saw Marseille conclude, which you can read about here, while the final stop is set for Saint Germain-en-Laye spanning March 18th & 19th.
Dutchman Arno Kamminga got a speedy start to his Nice campaign firing off a time of 59.88 in the final of the men’s 100m breaststroke event. The two-time Olympic silver medalist earlier produced an outing of 59.85, with both sub-minute results sitting just off the 58.90 he logged at last December’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet to rank #1 in the world.
Kamminga’s time here is inching him closer to the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time (OQT) of 59.79 needed to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games now that the official window began on March 1st. Kammgina’s 200m breast result of 2:09.47 from last weekend already made the grade in that longer event.
A trio of men clocked times under the 2:00 threshold in the 200m back, led by domestic ace Mewen Tomac.
Tomac beat the field in a time of 1:58.76 while Greek Olympian Apostolos Christou was right behind in 1:58.95. Christou’s countryman Apostolos Siskos was also in the medal mix with a mark of 1:58.99 as tonight’s bronze medalist.
French racer Marie Wattel topped the women’s 100m fly podium in a time of 59.72, with Sweden’s Sara Juvenik also under the minute mark in 59.95. Dutch athlete Maaike de Waard rounded out the top 3 in 59.98.
Dutch world champion Marrit Steenbergen got her hand on the wall first in two separate events to top the podium twice here on night 1.
First, the 23-year-old punched a result of 2:12.10 to take the women’s 200m IM. That time was just over half a second outside of her season-best 2:11.52 from the aforementioned Rotterdam Qualification Meet to sit 6th in the world on the season.
She’ll need to drop that down to at least 2:11.47 to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.
Steenbergen also grabbed gold in the 200m free with an outing of 1:58.83. That checked in as the sole time under the 2:00 barrier. She was much quicker last December, owning a season-best of 1:57.02 from Rotterdam.
Additional Winners
- Logan Fontaine punched a time of 15:04.50 to take the men’s 1500m free event, checking in as the 9th fastest performer on the season.
- Emilien Mattent scored the men’s 400m IM victory in a result of 4:20.12 tonight.
- The women’s 50m breast saw Florine Gaspard top the podium in the final of 4 rounds, grabbing gold in a time of 30.86.
- After 4 rounds of the men’s 50m fly, it was Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo‘s time of 23.52 from the final round which represented the quickest time of the night.
“…After 4 rounds of the men’s 50m fly, it was French speedster Maxime Grousset who ultimately got to the wall first. Grousset punched 23.81 for the victory, although Hungarian Szebasztian Szabo‘s time of 23.52 from the first round represents the quickest time of the night…”
@Retta, It’s the other way around. Szabo won the final in 23.52 and Grousset got second in 23.63.
Grousset’s 23.81 is from prelims.
Got it!