Blume Slices Off More Time To Land 24.28 50 Free Gold

FFN GOLDEN TOUR – MARSEILLE

• Friday, March 19th – Sunday, March 21st
• Marseille, France
• LCM (50m)
• Entries
• Day 1 Prelims/Day 1 Finals
• Day 2 Prelims/Day 2 Finals
• Day 3 Prelims
• Results

The final night of action at the FFN Golden Tour in Marseille did not disappoint, as Pernille Blume of Denmark made some noise in the women’s 50m free.

After establishing herself as the top-seeded swimmer with a swift morning result of 24.31, the reigning Olympic champion in this event fired off an even quicker 24.28 to capture gold by nearly half a second.

Dutch ace Femke Heemskerk was also well under 25-seconds with a smooth 24.72 as runner-up, taking .10 off of her previous season-best. French speedster Melanie Henique rounded out the top 3 just .01 off the silver with 24.73 while Marie Wattel captured 4th place in 24.93.

World rankings-wise, Blume remains among the top 5 performers in the world this season once the Australian results are factored in. In rehabilitation, Sarah Sjostrom of Sweden owns the #1 time in the world at 24.o7, while the New South Wales Championships saw Cate Campbell clock 24.11 and Emma McKeon also snag a hot time of 24.17.

Charlotte Bonnet kept the momentum going with a nice time of 1:56.77 to take the women’s 200m free. Her outing here sits just .12 away from the 1:56.65 she punched in December, a time which renders her as the #4 swimmer in the world right now.

Italian Olympian Federica Pellegrini settled for silver tonight in 1:57.64 as the only other swimmer under the 2:00 threshold in this women’s 2free race.

After unleashing lifetime bests in both the 200m IM and 400m IM here in Marseille, 19-year-old Leon Marchand closed his meet with a dominating men’s 200m fly race. Stopping the clock in a mighty 1:56.33, Marchand now ranks among the top 15 swimmers in the world this season.

Splitting 55.96/1:00.37, Marchand not only won the event by nearly 2 seconds, but the Arizona State University-bound athlete sliced .30 off of his own previous lifetime best of 1:56.63 from last December. Marchand now rockets himself up the list of all-time French performers to slot #2, sitting only behind national record holder Franck Esposito’s French standard of 1:54.62 from way back in 2002.

Additional Notes:

• France’s Yohann Ndoye Brouard completed his trifecta of backstroke victories, topping the men’s 50m podium tonight in 25.04.
• The men’s 200m free victor here, Danas Rapsys of Lithuania, came up short in the 400m free, leaving the gold to be grabbed by Joris Bouchaut. Bouchaut hit the wall in 3:48.14, while Rapsys was next in line in 3;51.01.
• Marie Wattel proved too quick for the women’s 100m fly field, beating Dutch swimmer Maaike de Waard by nearly a second. Wattel touched in 58.04 while de Waard was runner-up in 58.99.
• Dutch national record holder Kira Toussaint touched in 2:12.06 to reap the victory in the women’s 200m back.
• Arno Kamminga marked the only men’s 100m breaststroke to get under the minute mark, posting 59.20 for the gold. He already ranks #1 in the world with teh 58.69 he produced last December en route to qualifying for the Olympic Games.