FFN Golden Tour in Nancy: Hosszu, Metella, Verraszto Out Front After Day 1

FFN Golden Tour Stage Four – Nancy, France

  • Friday May 22nd-Sunday May 24th, 2015
  • Prelims 9 am GMT+1 (3 am EST/12 am PDT)
  • Finals 6 pm (12 pm EDT/9 am PDT), Sunday 3:30 pm (9:30 am EDT/6:30 am PDT)
  • Live Video
  • Live Results

The fourth and final stage of the French Federation’s Golden Tour began on Friday in Nancy, France. After a strong Arena Pro Swim Series at Charlotte last weekend, Katinka Hosszu of Hungary topped the leaderboard once again with three podia (in the 200 back, 100 breast, and 100 fly) out of four events. It would have been four-four-four, but Hosszu scratched the 50 free final after having tied for first in prelims with 25.45 (she went 25.32 to win the event at the Nice stage of the tour).

For the French contingent, it is starting out to be a much slower meet than the Marseille stage. This shouldn’t be much of a surprise, as Marseille was a tune-up meet for France’s Nationals/World Championships Trials in Limoges at the beginning of April. Since then, the Kazan-bound athletes have been back at work, something many of them talked about in post-race interviews.

The first event in finals was the men’s 800 free. The men and women alternate 800/1500 per tour stage, so this is the second men’s 800 in the series. Damien Joly of Antibes won in 7:56.38, about a half-second faster than he was in Amiens, but 4.5 behind his pace at French Nationals in April. Germany’s Poul Zellman and Clemens Rapp took second and third in 8:04.14 and 8:06.32, respectively.

The women kicked things off with the 50 free. Greece’s Theodora Drakou, who had tied with Hosszu in prelims with 25.45, was just off her morning time in finals. Drakou won in 25.53 ahead of Nice’s Anna Santamans (25.61) and Germany’s Nina Kost (25.70).

In the men’s 50 free, Florent Manaudou of Marseille carried the race with 21.97. Greece’s Odyssefs Meladinis (22.28) and Kristian Gkolomeev (22.32) completed the podium. Manaudou is the current world leader in the 50 free so far this season with 21.57 from Limoges; his three other 50 frees on the Golden Tour were 21.89-21.81-21.71.

Hosszu cracked an impressive 2:06.81 to win the women’s 200 back by 5.3 seconds. The swim moved her to second in the world so far this season, and barely missed breaking the Hungarian national record of 2:06.62, set by the legendary Krisztina Egerszegi at the 1991 European Championships in Athens.

2014-2015 LCM Women 200 Back

EmilyAUS
SEEBOHM
08/08
2.05.81
2Katinka
HOSSZU
HUN2.06.1808/07
3Missy
FRANKLIN
USA2.06.3408/08
4Daria K
USTINOVA
RUS2.07.2904/19
5Dominique
BOUCHARD
CAN2.08.1608/07
View Top 26»

France’s Camille Gheorghiu from Antibes took second with 2:12.14, just a tad better than her second-place finish in Limoges. Third went to Hungary’s Evelyn Verraszto, who trains in Nice. A couple of seconds off her winning time from Limoges, Verraszto nevertheless made the podium here by 1/100, touching out Switzerland’s Martina Van Berkel, 2:14.69 to 2:14.70.

The French were shut out of the men’s 200 back podium. Germany’s Christian Diener won his second 200 back of the series, this time a half-second faster than in Nice with 1:58.32. Hungary’s David Verraszto was second in 2:03.93, just edging Lukas Rauftlin of Switzerland (2:03.95). Marseille’s Benjamin Stasiulis, who finished sixth in 2:09.36 (he was 2:01 in Nice and 1:59 in Marseille), had just completed the 800 free and admitted in a post-race interview, “I didn’t think it would be that hard.”

Charlotte Bonnet of Nice won the 100 breast in 1:09.30, just slightly in front of Hosszu (1:09.58). Toulouse’s Adeline Williams was third in 1:10.83. Bonnet, who is France’s top breaststroker, was almost a second off what she swam at Limoges to qualify for Kazan. She told reporters after her race that, with the possible exception of the medley relay, she wouldn’t swim breast at World Championships; she competes in the event “for fun” and, of course, to help her freestyle.

The men’s version of the 100 breast was as disappointing for the French as the women’s race; the Hexagone’s top breaststroker, Marseille’s Giacomo Perez Dortona, went 1:02.08 for fourth. The podium was exclusively German, with Marco Koch winning in 1:00.97 ahead of compatriots Hendrick Feldwehr (1:01.28) and Christian Vom Lehn (1:01.68)

Germany’s Alexandra Wenk won the women’s 100 fly in 58.77, about 6/10 off her time from German Nationals in April. Hosszu very nearly even-split her race, making up a 1.3-second deficit at the 50 turn to pull even with Nice’s Marie Wattel at the finish; the pair tied with 59.05 for the silver medal.

Marseille’s Mehdy Metella claimed his fourth gold medal in the men’s 100 fly over the Golden Tour series, this time with 53.51 (his other winning times were 52.86-52.41-52.13). Germany’s Philip Heintz took second in 53.77, while Stefanos Dimitriadis of Greece placed third in 54.14.

Nancy Leaderboard After Day One

Women Points Men Points
HOSSZU Katinka 29 METELLA Mehdy 16
WENK Alexandra 12 VERRASZTO David 16
DRAKOU Theodora 12 MANAUDOU Florent 12
BONNET Charlotte 12 DIENER Christian 12
WATTEL Marie 11 KOCH Marco 12
VERRASZTO Evelin 10 JOLY Damien 12
GHEORGHIU Camille 9 HEINTZ Philip 9
SANTAMANS Anna 9 MELADINIS Odyssefs 9
FELDWEHR Hendrik 9
ZELLMANN Poul 9

 

FFN Golden Tour

As a reminder, The Golden Tour is a four-stage series, not unlike the Arena Pro Series here in the United States, with total prize winnings of €140,000. For each meet, the top 8 women and top 8 men will share €25,000 in prize money. Event winners collect 12 points for each gold, 9 for silver, and 7 for bronze; the next five finishers get 5-4-3-2-1. At the conclusion of the meet, the high scores are calculated and the purse is split. At the conclusion of the series, a series bonus will be awarded to the top 8 women and top 8 men, based on their top 6 performances at each meet.

Women/Men Per Meet Women/Men Series Bonus
High point €4000 High point €6500
#2 €2500 #2 €4500
#3 €2000 #3 €3000
#4 €1200 #4 €1800
#5 €1000 #5 €1500
#6 €700 #6 €1000
#7 €600 #7 €900
#8 €500 #8 €800

 

The four stages of the Golden Tour comprised:

  • Nice – January 30-February 1
  • Amiens – February 13-15
  • Marseille – March 6-8
  • Nancy – May 22-24

 

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bobo gigi
9 years ago

Small correction
Finals today at 5 PM in France/11 AM ET in USA

Markster
9 years ago

Also Manaudou going under 22 for at least the 5th time this year?? What a monster

Markster
9 years ago

I really hope Hosszu calms down a little bit with the nonstop racing after Kazan. She could be deadly at Rio with some good months of solid training in her. In the end, if she has a great performance at the Olympics, she will end up earning a lot more than all these smaller meets.

bad anon
9 years ago

Is competition schedule out for Rio vis a viz the women 100,back /200im? I think hosszu can do that double. she must drop 200fly to focus on medley and backstroke. She will surpass Kirsty Coventry Beijing medal tally in rio IMO

Tm
9 years ago

I think hoszu races way too much and will be exhausted even before she gets to Kazan and Rio. I do agree that her best chance in the big meets will be in the 200 IM.

ozsu
Reply to  Tm
9 years ago

This is what everyone has been saying since the 2012 Olympics but it just doesn’t seem to happen. I’m starting to believe that they know what they’re doing…

E
Reply to  Tm
9 years ago

Lots of racing gets you in shape!

Aquajosh
9 years ago

Hosszu needs to drop the 400 IM after Kazan and focus on the 200 back and 200 IM (the 100 back interferes with the 200 IM on the schedule) The 400 IM is not kind to older swimmers at the Olympic level, and she has a real shot at winning the 200 IM and potentially now the 200 back. The 400 IM is where teenage wünderkinds emerge and where 24-26 is the high end of most podiums.

Bad anon
9 years ago

Hosszu will go 2.05 this summer and will be Franklin biggest threat in Rio in 200back. wow ! 2.06.8 untapered!

About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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