Grousset Delivers 48.50 100 Free, Steenbergen Posts 2:10.96 200 IM At Giant Open

2023 GIANT OPEN FINALE (FRA)

• Saturday, March 18th & Sunday, March 19th
• Saint-German-En-Laye, France
• LCM (50m)
• Entries
• Day 1 Recap
• Results

The 2023 Giant Open wrapped up today from France with the likes of Marrit Steenbergen, Arno Kamminga, Maxime Grousset and more taking to the Saint-German-En-Laye pool.

For 23-year-old Steenbergen, the Dutch ace topped the podium on two separate occasions.

She first grabbed the gold in the 200m free, clocking a time of 1:57.71. The short course world champion represented the sole swimmer to delve under the 2:00 threshold. Her result fell just short of the World Aquatics Olympic Qualification Time needed for the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The qualification window began on March 1st.

The next race that fell victim to Steenbergen was the 200m IM where she produced a golden swim of 2:10.96. That beat the field by over a second en route to dipping under the World Aquatics OQT of 2:11.47 needed for Paris 2024. It also came within striking distance of her career-quickest result of 2:10.60 from the prelims of the 2IM at the 2022 World Championships.

Steenbergen now ranks 5th in the world this season.

The women’s 100m breaststroke saw two national records go down at the hands of the first and second-place finishers. Getting to the wall first was Tes Schouten who notched her best-ever 1:05.92 for a new Dutch standard while French Olympian Charlotte Bonnet also set a new national mark with her silver medal-garnering performance of 1:07.76.

Tes Schouten’s Record Post
Charlotte Bonnet’s Record Post

Beryl Gastaldello and Marie Wattel battled all the way to the wall in the women’s 100m fly, with the former ultimately getting there first in 58.70. Wattel was next in 58.81 while Dutch swimmer Maaike De Waard also landed on the podium for bronze in 59.34.

Gasteldello’s and Wattel’s results check in as their fastest times of the season while De Waard already put up a mark of 58.91 at December’s Rotterdam Qualification Meet.

Wattel did wind up with the top prize in the rounds of the women’s 50m free, however. In the rapid-fire event raced as 3 rounds just minutes apart, Wattel clocked times of 25.59 and 25.21 before ultimately winning the event in 24.90.

Grousset made some noise in the men’s 100m free, producing the only time of the field under 49 seconds. Grousset touched in 48.50 by splitting 23.09/25.41 en route to gold.

Hungary’s Szebasztian Szabo clocked a time of 49.32 for silver while Wissam-Amazigh Yebba scored bronze in 49.59.

Grousset checks in as the 7th fastest performer worldwide on the season.

Additional Winners

• Emilien Mattenet took the men’s 400m IM event in a time of 4:20.48.
• The men’s 100m back saw Apostolos Christou grab gold in a time of 54.21, narrowly defeating host country swimmer Mewen Tomac who touched in 54.43.
• Pacome Bricout was tonight’s 400m free winner for the men, producing an effort of 3:50.17 to beat out runner-up Joris Bouchart by just .02. Bouchart settled for silver in 3:50.19 while Logan Fontaine rounded out the podium in 3:50.32 in the super close race.
• The men’s 100m breaststroke winner here, Arno Kamminga, claimed the 200m breast victory in 2:11.41. The two-time Olympic silver medalist was quicker last week in Marseille where he logged an outing of 2:09.47 to rank 5th in the world.
• Noyan Taylan topped the men’s 200m fly podium in a time of 1:58.56.
• Russian distance freestyler Anastasia Kirpichnikova punched a time of 8:28.73 to win the women’s 800m distance.
• Pauline Mahieu was tonight’s women’s 200m backstroke victor in a result of 2:10.41.