Jaouadi Comes Within Hair Of Hafnaoui’s Tunisian Record In 800 Free

2024 FRENCH ELITE SHORT COURSE CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Thursday, October 31st – Sunday, November 3rd
• Montpellier, France
• SCM (25m)
• Meet Central
• Day 1 Recap/Day 2 Recap/Day 3 Recap
• Live Results

The 2024 French Elite Short Course Championships wrapped up last night from Montpellier with the competition representing a qualification opportunity for December’s Short Course World Championships.

On the heels of her newly-minted national record in the women’s 100m back on day 3, 29-year-old Beryl Gastaldello collected another golden piece of hardware in the 50m fly.

Gastaldello touched in a time of 24.76 as the sole swimmer of the field to delve under the 25-second barrier. That outing fell just .01 outside of her personal best of 24.75 from 2020 en route to remaining the 2nd-best performer ever from her nation.

National record holder Melanie Henique settled for silver in the race in 25.47 while Analia Pigree rounded out the podium in 25.76.

A pair of Tunisian teammates claimed the top 2 spots of the men’s 800m free, led by 19-year-old Ahmed Jaouadi.

The teen stopped the clock at 7:33.84 for the decisive victory, with 15-year-old Rami Rahmouni next to the wall over 7 seconds back in 7:41.00. The host nation’s Damien Joly secured bronze in 7:41.80.

Jaouadi’s outing checks in as a huge new personal best, destroying the 7:50.49 notched at last year’s edition of this competition. In fact, Jaouadi’s time fell just .15 outside of Olympic champion Ahmed Hafnaoui‘s national record of 7:33.69 logged at the 2021 Short Course World Championships.

While Hafnahoui has receded from the spotlight, the rise of Jauouadi and Fahmouni has brought a second generation of Tunisian talent. Fanmouni at 15 swam 3:43 in the 400 free, 7:41 in the 800 free, and 14:51 in the 1500 free this week.

Olympian Maxime Grousset ended his campaign on a high note, taking the men’s 50m free by over half a second.

The 25-year-old punched a time of 20.94 to come within .04 of his lifetime best of 20.90 established at the 2022 SC World Championships.

Matteo Robba secured silver in 21.52, tied with Nikita Baez who clocked that same mark.

Additional Notes

• Cyrielle Duhamel was the women’s 400m IM gold medalist, turning in a time of 4:35.33 to beat the pack by over 8 seconds.
• Mewen Tomac registered a gold medal-worthy result of 50.28 to top the men’s 100m back podium. That held off Yohann Ndoye-Brouard who scored silver in 50.76 while Antoine Herlem finished in 51.50 for bronze.
• Belgian swimmer Florine Gaspard got it done for gold in the 100m breast, producing an effort of 1:06.46. She’s been as quick as 1:05.45 in her career to rank 2nd among the all-time Belgian performers list.
• The women’s 200m free saw Marina Jehl notch 1:56.63 as the winner, just .20 ahead of runner-up Maeline Bessard who hit 1:56.83. Pauline Mahieu also landed on the podium in 1:57.03.