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
Day Two of the Golden Tour’s final stage in Nancy began with the women’s 1500. France’s longtime distance free specialist, Coralie Balmy of Mulhouse, earned gold with a 16:20.78, the 11th-fastest in the world so far this year. Balmy swam the 200-400-800 at French Nationals in Limoges in April; had she also swum the 1500, her 16:20 would have been the top French performance by 16 seconds. Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu was second with 16:36.43; Luxembourg’s Monique Olivier placed third in 16:45.40.
Jérémy Stravius of Amiens went 53.96 to take the 100 back by a decent margin; Germany’s Christian Diener was second in 55.05, in front of Amiens’ Eddie Moueddene (55.81). Stravius was exactly a half-second off his winning time from Limoges that put him in the sixth position worldwide for the season.
Hosszu cruised to a 1:00.48 victory in the women’s 100 back, 2.3 seconds ahead of Greece’s Theodora Drakou (1:02.77) and Camille Gheorghiu of Antibes (1:02.78). It was the first of three gold medals for the Hungarian, as she also won the 200 breast and 400 IM. The breast was quite a race: Adeline Martin of Antibes was up by .9 at the 50, .7 at the 100, and 1.2 at the 150. Hosszu came home in 37.4, outsplitting Martin by nearly 2 seconds over the last 50 and getting the win, 2:29.12 to 2:29.69. Fantine Lesaffre of Mulhouse placed third with 2:32.81. The IM saw Hosszu in the familiar position of racing compatriot Evelyn Verraszto in the middle lanes of the pool. This time they were joined by Franziska Hentke of Germany. Hentke charged to the lead in the butterfly (1:03.48), but the Hungarians passed her in the backstroke, both clocking 1:11-highs to Hentke’s 1:16. Hosszu took off in the breaststroke, leaving the field far behind, and finished in 4:40.96 for the win. Verraszto earned the silver medal with 4:45.17, while Hentke took the bronze in 4:45.90.
As with yesterday’s 100 breast, Marco Koch and Christian vom Lehn of Germany mounted the steps of the podium. Koch won in 2:09.68, .04 better than his winning time at German Nationals in April. Vom Lehn was second with 2:11.95. Hungary’s David Verraszto rounded out the podium with 2:13.35.
Sprint king Florent Manaudou of Marseille and teammate Medhy Metella went 1-2 in the 50 fly with 23.75 and 23.88, respectively. Manaudou won in Limoges with 23.53, and at the Amiens stage of the Golden Tour with 23.49. Metella’s other Golden Tour performances in the 50 fly this season were 23.82-23.89-23.69. Greece’s Kristian Gkolomeev took third in 24.01.
In the women’s 50 fly, Mélanie Henique of Amiens, who finished second to Béryl Gastaldello in Limoges, won with 26.29. Nice’s Marie Wattel went 26.91 for second. Anna Ntountounaki of Greece rounded out the podium with 27.02 for third.
Paul Biedermann, whose 1:45.60 from German Nationals in April is the top performance in the world so far this season, went 1:47.42 to win the men’s 200 free. Marseille’s Metella cracked the 1:50 barrier for the first time this season, taking second with 1:49.99. Lorys Bourelly of Toulouse was third in 1:50.12. Yannick Agnel, who won the 200 at French Nationals in Limoges with 1:45.97, went 1:51.82 in prelims to finish 11th.
Charlotte Bonnet of Nice, the reigning French national champion in the 200 free, was right at her best time from Limoges in winning the women’s race in 1:56.89. This is her most successful distance, and an event in which she hopes to medal at Kazan. Going 1:56 in the middle of the season bodes well for the Niçoise’s chances this summer. Hosszu finished second with 1:58.60, while Evelyn Verraszto, Bonnet’s teammate in Nice, went 2:00.67 for third.
David Verraszto completed a perfect sweep of the Golden Tour’s four 400 IM, with his fastest performance of the season, 4:15.26 (is three other winning times were 4:17.00-4:17.91-4:15.99). Verraszto moves up a notch to 15th in the world with that swim. Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches, who trains in Nice, went 4:20.51 for second, ahead of Kevin Wedel of Germany (4:23.40).
Bobo, you will remember that a few days ago, when you told me Gkolomeev’s best time was a 49, I wrote that based on his 50 free PB a 48 was due. And here we are! 😀
I am more and more convinced that this Greek guy is going to be the new thing in sprint freestyle. Technique-wise, his stroke is so good that only Ervin compares.
Also very good news for the French 4×100 freestyle relay. Will they consider Metella, who did not do so well at French nationals, for relay duty?
Of course Metella will be in the relay in final. With Manaudou, Agnel or Mignon and Stravius.
Metella did win the 100 free not the 100 fly at the 2010 Yourh Olympic Games. In my opinion, he is more of a freestyler. He won in 2010 in 49.99.
Also Gkolomeev is now ranked 29th in the world with 48.85 (the same time as Adrian and Metella before his 48.44 time).
WOW! 48.44 for Metella in the 100 free! Bearded and not rested!
48.85 for Gkolomeev second. New PB for him. His previous PB was 49.49 from last summer.
Stravius third in 49.16.
The Greek sprinter was well ahead at the 50 in 23.14. Then Metella had his usual big finish and won pretty easily.
And if ultimately freestyle was the best Metella’s stroke…. 🙂
48.85 for Gkolomeev is a new Greek national record, (the first Greek swimmer to break the 49 seconds barrier, 49.04 was the previous record from Kalargaris since 2009), and a qualification time for Kazan and Rio.
I’m just curious if anyone can tell me the kind of training Hosszu does? The fact that she puts up consistently amazing performances year round and seems to be getting faster at her age is just astounding to me. I am of course a dinosaur where the thinking was that most women had peaked around 16 and you were lucky if you could sustain success through college, and perform well at more than one Olympics. Women just didn’t get any faster after a certain age, I suspect because we were overtrained. How does she do itT/ravel, compete, fit in training and maintain almost constant success. I am in awe, really. Is there anyone else like her?Most athletes have heavy training… Read more »
She swam ALL (!!!!!!!) the events in Nancy !!!!!!! Only her energy isn’t enough… I don’t know what she does…
When she doesn’t swim at a meet, which is rare 🙂 , according to the article I’ve posted below, she trains 8 to 9 hours per day. lol:
http://www.fina.org/H2O/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=4441:hosszu-qi-always-learn-something-new-even-after-20-years-of-swimmingq&catid=225:highlight&Itemid=179
Her body has also changed a lot since USC. 😆
She loves lifting weights.
And 6th event of the day for Hosszu. She wins the 100 free in 55.60.
And Hosszu again!
5th event of the afternoon!
She wins the 200 IM in 2.11.69.
Henztke wins the women’s 200 fly in 2.07.75 ahead of Hosszu in 2.09.37.
Feldwehr wins the men’s 50 breast in 27.78 ahead of GPD in 27.82, Manaudou in 27.91 and Koch in 27.93.
Hentke