French Olympic Trials Halted in Middle of Day 5 Prelims

2021 FRENCH ELITE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

UPDATE: A coach of participating athletes confirmed to SwimSwam that the bulkhead broke and could not be held in place. Officials estimated that the break occurred at 9:46 am, just prior to the start of prelims.

Since then, the bulkhead has been locked into place and finals will begin at 6:00 pm. The program has been modified. They will begin with the C finals of the 3 events they ran this morning (women’s 50 fly, men’s 50 fly, and women’s 200 breast), followed by the 3 events that were never held this morning. The men’s 200 back and women’s 100 free will be timed finals with all but the fastest heats swimming in this first session.

Then at 6:34, they will run the finals of the women’s 800 free, the A & B finals of the women’s 50 fly, men’s 50 fly, and women’s 200 breast, and the fastest heats of the men’s 200 back and the women’s 100 free.

The 1500, originally scheduled at the end of today’s prelims session, will be swum tomorrow, as a timed final with all but the fastest heat at the end of prelims tomorrow and the top heat in the finals session.

Modified program for Saturday evening

What is still unclear is if the times from the morning session -indeed, for the last several days?- will count. We have reached out to the French Federation for clarification.

 

With only three of the six events completed on Saturday morning, the Fédération Française de Natation (FFN) postponed the remaining heats due to a technical problem in the Odyssée Pool in Chartres. In a tweet, the Federation wrote “Owing to a technical problem, the competition is temporarily suspended.”

Without further explanation from the FFN, it is difficult to know when they will resume the competition. A tweet from Benoit Gilles shows the magnitude of the “technical problem,” as in fact, the bulkhead seems to have disengaged from the pool.

The suspension is expected to last until at least 1:00 PM local time.

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Frencheatc0k
3 years ago

Straight bums

Bobo Gigi
3 years ago

Press release of the French federation
https://ffn.extranat.fr/html/presse/1999.pdf

Men’s 200 back and women’s 100 free timed finals.

Bobo Gigi
3 years ago

I’ve missed the prelims.
Looks like I’ve missed a drama. 😆

Mr Piano
Reply to  Bobo Gigi
3 years ago

Lol Bobo, you’ve always joked about the pool length being too short, and now it’s actually happened

Khachaturian
3 years ago

dommage

Texas Tap Water
3 years ago

Yes lol

VAKer29
3 years ago

Reinforcing fasteners have been installed. The races will resume in the afternoon but the program will be adjusted.

Torchbearer
3 years ago

And they are hosting the Olympic Swimming in 3 years! 🙂

SwimCoachWill
3 years ago

Reminds me of 97 Nationals in Nashville. Bulkhead disengaged in the middle of the Men’s 100 Free. One of the crazier things I’ve ever seen at a meet.

Last edited 3 years ago by SwimCoachWill
Steve Schaffer
Reply to  SwimCoachWill
3 years ago

Also at that meet… the pool water level dropped 6in during a heat of the 1500 as the pool was being backwashed, and then a thunderstorm caused a power failure.

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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