Manaudou Posts 48.00 100 Free to Close Marseille Golden Tour

2016 FFN GOLDEN TOUR CAMILLE MUFFAT – MARSEILLE

• Dates: Friday, March 4 – Sunday, March 6, 2016
• Prelims 9 am GMT+1 (3 am EST/12 am PST); finals 5 pm on Friday and Saturday (11 am EST/8 am PST), 3:30 pm on Sunday (9:30 am EST/6:30 am PST)
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The 2016 FFN Golden Tour Camille Muffat wrapped up on Sunday evening in Marseille, and the home team had a good showing. That home team is the Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille, the club of the lion share of France’s national men’s team and their coach, Romain Barnier. With three weeks to go until the French Olympic Trials in Montpellier (March 29-April 3), Marseille sprinter Florent Manaudou proved he is ready for the 50/100m free double. After winning the 50 on Saturday with a solid 21.67, the Frenchman took the 100 free in a Golden Tour record time of 48.00. Manaudou was out in 22.49 and back in 25.51, appearing to fade a bit over the last 15 meters. However, as he explained to the press after his race, it’s all according to his plan:

“I go out too fast, I can feel it – but I have to, even, if it hurts. That’s what will happen at (French) Trials: I plan to take it out fast and be able to come back. If I’m able to do 22.4 now, when I’m a little bit tired, I can do 22.5 or 22.6 at Nationals and it should be easier to come back in 25 for a 47.5. I knew what would happen, and if I make the final at the Olympics, it will be the same thing. I need to get used to it.”

Placing second in the 100 free was Manaudou’s Marseille teammate, Clément Mignon, who clocked a lifetime-best 48.38, only .25 off the French standard for selection to the Rio team (which he will need to achieve in finals at French Trials in order to be selected). Jérémy Stravius of Amiens was third in 49.00, a half-second ahead of Italy’s Marco Orsi. This event will be hotly contested in Montpellier, as Manaudou, Mignon and Stravius, as well as Mehdy Metella, Fabien Gilot, William Meynard and a handful of others, are vying for the opportunity to represent France in Rio in the distance. Of course, this kind of depth is a good thing for France’s 4×100 free relay, but Manaudou’s decision to add the event to his slate crowded the field considerably for Montpellier.

Great Britain’s Fran Halsell hit the wall .30 ahead of Sweden’s Sarah Sjostrom to win the women’s 50 free with a new Golden Tour record of 24.23. That moved Halsell to the number 3 spot in the world so far this season. Sjostrom has been faster (24.17 at Arena PSS in Austin in January) but her 24.53 second-place finish still ranks among the season’s top 5. A total of four women came in under 25 seconds: third and fourth places went to Italy’s Silvia Di Pietro (24.93, which ranks her 20th) and France’s Anna Santamans (24.97). It is worth pointing out that Santamans went 24.71 in December, at the same Christmas long course meet in Nîmes where Manaudou swam his 47.98 100 free. Santamans is tied at sixth in the world so far this year with Etiene Madeiros (BRA) and Madison Kennedy (USA) but it is still .14 off where she needs to be in the final at Montpellier at the end of March in order to be selected to France’s team for Rio.

France’s Lara Grangeon won the 200 fly with a personal-best 2:07.98, an improvement of more than a half-second. Grangeon now sits within 1.4 seconds of the qualifying time she needs to make the Rio team. Grangeon splits were 29.42/32.5/32.7/33.36; fully tapered she should be able to nail her finish and make the 2:06.62 cut in Montpellier. Katinka Hosszu set the Golden Tour record in this event in prelims with 2:07.11. She was the first to turn at the 100 but fell off over the second half of the racing, losing not only to Grangeon but to her Hungarian teammate, Liliana Szilagyi, as well, 2:08.41 to 2:08.51. Spaniards Mireia Belmonte Garcia (2:10.81) and Judit Ignacio Sorribes (2:10.97) were fourth and fifth.

Great Britain’s James Guy broke the Golden Tour record in the 400 free with his winning 3:47.96, coming in just ahead of Germany’s Paul Biedermann (3:50.22) and Jacob Heidtmann (3:50.40). The only Frenchman in the championship final was Jordan Pothain, who placed fourth in 3:50.98. Pothain won the event in Amiens with 3:48.50; it will take 3:46.66 in the final at Montpellier to make the French Olympic team.

Sjostrom of Sweden won the final women’s event, the 200 free, with a Golden Tour record time of 1:55.48. That moved her to #3 in the world, and made her one of only five women to have broken 1:56 so far this season. Second was France’s Charlotte Bonnet with 1:57.17. Bonnet won the Amiens stage with 1:56.73, just under the 1:56.78 she will need to go in Montpellier to make the French team for Rio. Veronika Popova went 1:58.07 for third.

Other event winners:

• Men’s 200 back: Jan-philip Glania (GER) 1:58.52 [2nd Christian Diener (GER) 1:58.75]
• Women’s 100 back: Anastasiia Fesikova (RUS) 59.91
• Men’s 100 breast: Kirill Prigoda (RUS) 1:00.99
• Women’s 200 breast: Viktoria Zeynep Gunes (TUR) 2:24.55
• Men’s 100 fly: Matteo Rivolta (ITA) 52.46 [2nd Mehdy Metella (FRA) 52.63]
• Men’s 200 IM: David Verraszto (HUN) 2:00.86