2023 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, June 11th – Friday, June 16th
- Rennes, France
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- FFN Selection Criteria
- Meet Central
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Prelims Recap / Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap / Day 2 Finals Recap
- Live Results
- Live Stream
It hasn’t taken Anastasia Kirpichnikova long to make a splash on the French swimming scene.
Just a week after her sporting citizenship change to France was approved by World Aquatics, the 22-year-old Russian native dominated the women’s 1500-meter freestyle final at the French Championships on Monday by more than 18 seconds with a winning time of 16:04.89. Kirpichnikova reached the wall nine seconds under the French qualifying time for Fukuoka (16:13.94), becoming the first Frenchwoman to qualify for the event at a major international meet since Laure Manaudou at the 2007 World Championships, where she placed eighth.
Kirpichnikova was less than two seconds off Manaudou’s French record of 16:03.01 from 2006. Her lifetime best is a 15:50.22 from the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, which still stands as the Russian record today. Her 16:04.89 from Monday marked Kirpichnikova’s fastest time so far this calendar year, but her season best remains at 15:58.90 from December.
WOMEN’S 1500 FREESTYLE – FINAL
- French Record: 16:03.01, Laure Manaudou (2006)
- French Qualifying Time for Fukuoka: 16:13.94
Top 8:
- Anastasia Kirpichnikova – 16:04.89
- Cyrielle Duhamel – 16:22.97
- Lisa Pou – 16:34.73
- Aurelie Muller – 16:42.32
- Valentine Leclercq- 16:45.38
- Ines Delacroix – 16:50.74
- Alisia Tettamanzi – 16:51.67
- Clemence Coccordano – 16:57.38
Kirpichnikova snapped a 16-year French drought in the 1500 free just one day after ending a seven-year drought in the 400 free. Before this week’s meet, she had already qualified for the 5km and 10km during April’s Martinique Open, meaning she’ll be representing France in both pool and open water events at next month’s World Championships in Fukuoka.
She’ll likely add the 800 free to her schedule on Thursday night as she recently clocked an 8:28.73 in March, quicker than the French qualifying time of 8:29.24. Manaudou owns the French record in the 800 free as well with an 8:18.80 from the 2007 World Championships.
Kirpichnikova has been training in France for the past four years under coach Philippe Lucas, who has worked with Olympic medalists such as Manaudou, Sharon von Rouwendaal, and Marc-Antoine Olivier.
In Tokyo, Kirpichnikova became the first Russian woman to participate in pool and open water swimming at the Olympics. She was a finalist in both the 800 and 1500 free, placing eighth and seventh, respectively, after swimming significantly faster times in the prelims (that would’ve finished fourth and fifth in the final).
Later that year at the 2021 Short Course World Championships — which marked her last time representing Russia internationally — Kirpichnikova collected a silver medal in the 800 free (8:06.44).
