Tunisia’s Ahmed Jaouadi Hits 3:45.95 400 Free PB On Final Night Of Giant Series

2024 MEETING NICE – CAMILLE MUFFAT – GIANT SERIES

• Sunday, March 17th – Wednesday, March 20th
• Nice, France
• LCM (50m)
• Meet Central
• SwimSwam Preview
• Day 1 Finals Recap/Day 2 Finals Recap/Day 3 Finals Recap
• Live Results

The final day of the 2024 Meeting Nice – Camille Muffat, part of the French Giant Series, wrapped up tonight with another packed agenda. For most events throughout this competition, the heats were raced in the mornings, followed by semi-finals in the  evening immediately followed by finals. That made the racing rapid-fire style, especially if swimmers opted for more than one event per day.

Completing his trifecta of butterfly victories was 22-year-old Noe Ponti of Switzerland. Olympic medalist Ponti took on the 200m fly this evening, clocking a time of 1:56.32 to finish ahead of the field.

The next-closest swimmer was represented by runner-up Noyan Taylan of the host nation who touched in 1:57.27. South Africa’s Chad Le Clos also landed on the podium in 1:58.40 for bronze.

Ponti’s time represents a  new season-best while Le Clos put up a much quicker time this season of 1:56.65 at December’s World Championships Trials.

Continuing her streak of personal best-setting swims, 24-year-old Mary-Sophie Harvey registered a gold medal-worthy outing of 1:57.06 in the women’s 200m free.

Opening in 58.17 and closing in 58.89, Harvey’s time tonight erased her previous PB of 1:57.26 notched at last month’s Quebec Cup.

Hungary’s Nikolett Padar was next to the wall although well behind in 1:58.89. Padar, who earned 5 golds at the 2022 World Junior Championships, turned in a time of 1:58.32 during last night’s semi-final.

Ahmed Jaouadi made some noise en route to topping the men’s 400m free podium.

Jaouadi nailed a time of 3:45.95 to win the event by over 2 seconds, producing a new lifetime best in the process. Entering this competition, the Tunisian’s best-ever result checked in at the 3:47.75 from December.

Just last month at the World Championships, Jaouadi finished 25th out of the heats in a mark of 3:49.85. His result this evening keeps him ranked #3 all-time among Tunisian swimmers, sitting only behind Olympic gold medalist Ahmed Hafnaoui (3:40.70 and Ous Mellouli (3:41.11).

The women’s 100m back final saw two competitors dip under the minute threshold led by Pauline Mahieu.

25-year-old Mahieu stopped the clock in 59.71 to just get the edge over teammate Mary-Ambre Moluh who snagged silver in 59.91. Emma Terebo, the winner of the 200m back at this competition, rounded out the podium in 1:00.22.

Mahieu’s outing represents the 4th-quickest of her career, one which boasts a personal best of 59.30 nabbed at last year’s World Championships.

The 2023 world champion in the 100m fly, Maxime Grousset, was too quick to catch in the  men’s 100m free final.

After producing a heats swim of 48.77 followed by a semi-final of 49.43, Grousset wound up at the wall in a time of 48.39 during the main event. That marked the sole sub-49-second result of the pack.

Brazilian Marcelo Chierighini turned in a time of 49.32 for silver while teammate Breno Correia also landed on the podium in 49.36 for bronze.

Of note, 50m free Olympic champion Florent Manaudou raced in the prelims of this 1free, hitting 49.13 before bowing out of the remaining rounds.

The women’s 50m fly silver medalist from Doha, Melanie Henique, found success in the 50m free this evening.

31-year-old Henique powered her way to the victory in a time of 24.70. She and runner-up Valerie van Roon of the Netherlands were the sole swimmers under 25 seconds in the final.

American Michael Andrew claimed the 50m back gold, punching a time of 25.05. His earlier rounds consisted of 25.37 in the heats followed by 25.17 in the semi-final.

Behind Andrew was the 100m back victor Yohann Ndoye-Brouard who clocked 25.11 and Alexandre Desangles touched in 25.54.

Additional Winners

• Anastasia Kirpichnikova added another piece of hardware to her collection, reaping gold in the women’s 800m free. She nabbed the top spot in 8:32.98 after dropping the event at this year’s World Championships.
• The women’s 200m breast saw Lisa Mamie of Switzerland post a winning time of 2:26.95. That held off Spain’s Jessica Vall who settled for silver in 2:27.59 tonight.