France Releases Official List of Qualifiers for Kazan

A day after their 2015 Elite National Championships wrapped up in Limoges, the French Federation (FFN) released its official list of athletes selected to represent the Hexagone at the 16th FINA World Championships in Kazan, Russia this summer. In addition to the core group of swimmers who have swum for France in international competition over the last couple of Olympic cycles, there are quite a few new names this year.

In particular, there is a large female contingent.The 2015 French Elite Nationals was the most successful showing of the ensemble of French women in recent years, and it shows on the list of invited swimmers; with 15 men and 14 women, the team is as close to parity as it has ever been.

This is great news for French swimming, and especially for Fabrice Pellerin, the newly-appointed director of the French Women’s National Team.

Men

Swimmer   Team of Record
Yannick AGNEL 1992 MULHOUSE ON
Joris BOUCHAUT 1995 DAUPHINS TOULOUSE OEC
Lorys BOURELLY* 1992 DAUPHINS TOULOUSE OEC
Thomas DAHLIA 1990 CN ANTIBES
Fabien GILOT 1984 CN MARSEILLE
Damien JOLY 1992 CN ANTIBES
Camille LACOURT 1985 CN MARSEILLE
Grégory MALLET 1984 CN MARSEILLE
Florent MANAUDOU 1990 CN MARSEILLE
Mehdy METELLA 1992 CN MARSEILLE
Clément MIGNON 1993 CN MARSEILLE
Giacomo PEREZ DORTONA 1989 CN MARSEILLE
Jordan POTHAIN* 1994 NAUTIC CLUB ALP’38
Benjamin STASIULIS 1986 CN MARSEILLE
Jérémy STRAVIUS 1988 AMIENS METROPOLE NAT.

Women

Swimmer Team of Record
Coralie BALMY 1987 MULHOUSE ON
Charlotte BONNET 1995 OLYMPIC NICE NATATION
Mathilde CINI 1994 VALENCE TRIATHLON
Fanny DEBERGHES* 1994 ASPTT MONTPELLIER
Ophélie-Cyrielle ETIENNE* 1990 LILLE MÉTROPOLE NATATION
Margaux FABRE* 1992 MONTAUBAN NATATION
Béryl GASTALDELLO 1995 CN MARSEILLE
Lara GRANGEON 1991 CN CALÉDONIENS
Cloé HACHE* 1997 OLYMPIC NICE NATATION
Mélanie HENIQUE 1992 AMIENS METROPOLE NAT.
Fantine LESAFFRE 1994 MULHOUSE ON
Anouchka MARTIN* 1993 CN MARSEILLE
Anna SANTAMANS 1993 OLYMPIC NICE NATATION
Marie WATTEL 1997 OLYMPIC NICE NATATION

 

*selected for relays

 

For French swimmer Camille Lacourt, the FFN’s selection had a glaring hole; as he wrote on his Facebook page:

“Here is the official list of qualifiers for the World Championships in Kazan. With one major person missing, Frédérick Bousquet…After an operation a year ago and 15 months of convalescence, you decided to come back to swim in Kazan. It was a surrealistic goal for a guy who couldn’t lift his arm over his head even six months ago…But you worked hard, you are a professional, passionate, perseverant, headstrong, crazy, and above all, you believed in it and made us believe, too. You finished silver medalist in the 50 fly, a couple of tenths from the prize…And you weren’t able to defend your chances in the 50 free because of food poisoning. It’s a tough break. For you, for us, for French swimming. We will miss you, my friend. I will never forget this lesson in courage and selflessness. Know that the people close to you, your angel and your friends, we are all proud of you.”

 

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bobo gigi
9 years ago

Not an April fool.
The French federeration wants to make the world cup stage in Chartres post world championships in long course.
Funny for a short course world cup. 🙂

G3
9 years ago

The French men’s team has a good amount of older swimmers(born in the 80s). I hate saying that is old! USA and Brazil are the same. Compared to AUS, CHN, and Japan.

revolver
Reply to  G3
9 years ago

The proportion of “older” swimmers in the mens team is probably inflated by the fact that the main strength is freestyle sprinters where the age of maturity is typically older.
The other races outside of the backstroke duo provided younger French champion, they just haven’t all qualified for Kazan…

revolver
9 years ago

This selection shows that we are almost completely out of the era of the 2008 olympics swimmers in France.
With Bousquet not qualified and all the retirements, I guess only Gilot and Balmy are still there and if they are important for the relays, they will not be the main focus for the individual events.

Reply to  revolver
9 years ago

Yup. Your Beijing holdover on the men’s side is providing depth… whereas the USA will likely be lining up 2 of them (Grevers and Adrian) at finals… alongside a guy from Athens (Ervin) 🙁

Add to that everyone seems hopeful Phelps gets to tag along that’d be another one.

We have not done a good job transitioning to the next wave of sprinter men.

Danjohnrob
9 years ago

Gold Medal Mel and Braden, I hope this colorful spreadsheet presentation becomes the standard that all your reporters will use when reporting on Championship Trials throughout the world! Anne did a great job; give that woman a raise! 😉

Also, those were classy words of support from Lacourt to Bousquet!

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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