France Continues to Fill its Roster for Euros on Day Four of Nationals in Chartres

2014 French Long Course National Championships

• Dates: Tuesday, April 8 – Sunday, April 13, 2014; prelims 9:00 am, semis/ finals 5:00 pm
• Location: Chartres, France  (GMT +1, or 6 hours ahead of N.Y., 9 ahead of L.A.)
• Results: Available Here
• Televised: Eurosport France
• Championship Central

Meet previews Part One and Part Two
Day One finals recap │ Day Two finals recap │ Day Three finals recap

Day Four: Friday, April 11 – Finals Contested:

Women’s 50 breast: Following morning prelims which saw Adeline Williams of Toulouse (32.04) and Coralie Dobral (32.17) of Montauban both under the qualifying standard for Euros, the final heat of the women’s 50 breast was a little slower. Dobral got the win in 32.14 but she was the only one under the 32.20 cutoff. Second place went to Claire Polit of Montpellier (32.25); third was Chloé Cazier of Beauvaisis (32.27).

The first girls’ national age group record of the meet came when Nolwenn Hervé of Toul went 32.77 to tie Polit’s 2010 mark for 15-year-old girls.

Men’s 1500 free: Fifth in the 400, second in the 800, Toulouse’s Joris Bouchaut finally stood on the top rung of the podium after his 15:08.65 performance in the men’s 1500. Bouchaut improved his time by over 10 seconds en route to victory, and was 20 seconds faster than at last year’s championship. Damien Joly of Antibes was runner-up, just off his seed time with 15:12.65. The bronze went to Axel Reymond of Le Plessis-Savigny. His 15:18.13 was a personal best by 4.2 seconds, but came up just short of the 15:18.05 qualifying mark for Berlin.

Women’s 200 IM: Evelyn Verraszto continued the Hungarian sweep of men’s and women’s individual medley events, defending her 2013 title with 2:11.86. Charlotte Bonnet of Nice took silver in 2:13.33, while Lara Grangeon of Calédoniens rounded out the podium with 2:15.25. Bonnet and Grangeon were the only French women to make the Berlin cut of 2:16.09.

Women’s 100 back: Cloé Credeville of Marseille picked up her second backstroke title, after the 200, in 1:01.98. Mathilde Cini (Valence) and Béryl Gastadello (Marseille) each went under 1:03 for the first time, finshing in 1:02.34 and 1:02.37, respectively. Credeville was the lone member of the trio to make the Euro qualifying standard of 1:02.16.

Men’s 200 breast: Avenging their second- and third-place finishes in the 100 breast, Antibes teammates Thomas Dahlia and Quentin Coton each dropped a second from their previous best times to finish 1-2, respectively, in the 200. Dahlia touched in 2:11.43; Coton went 2:11.60. The pair were the only two qualifiers for Berlin (2:13.76 cutoff). Third place went to William Debourges, also of Antibes, who finished with 2:14.23.

Seventeen-year-old Jean Dencausse of Toulouse took fifth overall but did not lower the national age group record of 2:13.73 he’s set in semi-finals. Tanguy Lesparre of Cannes did, however, break a NAG for 15-year-old boys: he went 2:19.45 in finals of the men’s 14-16 category, lowering his own record of 2:21.68 set in 2013.

Men’s 200 fly: The French don’t seem to have any trouble qualifying butterfliers for the European Championships. The top five finishers in the 200 all came in under the 2:00.03 cutoff. Defending champion Jordan Coelho of Etampes won a much closer final than in 2013: his 1:56.95 was only 8/10 ahead of runner-up Jérémy Stravius (Amiens) 1:57.73, versus the four-second lead that characterized last year’s race. Thomas Vilaceca (Montauban) and Paul Lemaire (Toulouse) came in third and fourth, respectively, with personal best times of 1:58.87 and 1:58.88. Stravius also logged a best time.

Day Four: Friday, April 11 – Semi-Finals Contested:

Men’s 100 free: In what might be the highlight of the meet, the men’s 100 free final will consist of Florent Manaudou (Marseille, semi-final time of 49.01); Yannick Agnel (Nice, 49.25); Mehdy Metella (Marseille, 49.27); Grégory Mallet (Marseille, 49.66); Clément Mignon (Marseille, 49.76); Fabien Gilot (Marseille, 49.95); Stéphane Debaere (Talence, 50.09); Lorys Bourelly (Toulouse, 50.21); Tom Paco Pedroni (Nice, 50.21); and Nosy Pélagie (Lyon, 50.51). The qualifying time for Berlin is 49.96.

Women’s 200 free: The top eight seeds all came in with seed times under the Berlin cut of 2:00.58; only two of them went under 2:00 in semi-finals: Coralie Balmy (Mulhouse) with 1:58.82 and Camille Muffat (Nice) with 1:59.52. This event is probably the French women’s strongest on the international scene – it is the one in which they have the most depth, as evidenced by their bronze medals in the 4×200 relay at both the 2012 Olympics and 2013 World Championships.

Women’s 200 fly: The top three semi-finalists all swam under the Berlin qualifying time of 2:13.69: Lara Grangeon (Calédoniens) went 2:12.61 and both Barbora Zavadova (Czech Republic) and Marie Wattel (Nice) touched in 2:13.37. It should be a tight race tomorrow.

French Qualifiers for 2014 European Championships in Berlin