Meeting de Nice Day 3: Katinka Hosszu, David Verraszto Finish at Top of Leaderboard

The Nice stage of the French Swimming Federation’s Golden Tour ended with Hungarians Katinka Hosszu and David Verraszto at the head of the women’s and men’s point totals, each one picking up a pair of wins on the final day.

All Results

Hosszu first trip to the top of the podium came with the first event, the women’s 400 free. She finished in 4:07.26, about 2 seconds faster than she was in Austin last month, but just behind Yuhan Zhang’s 4:06.83 from Perth this weekend. Coralie Balmy, who swims for France’s Mulhouse, was second in 4:09.24. Hometown sensation Charlotte Bonnet of Olympic Nice took bronze with 4:14.65.

After his stunning 1500 on Friday, Ukraine’s Mykhaylo Romanchuk picked up another world top-ten with a 3:50.18 win of the 400m free. Teammate Sergiy Frolov came in second with 3:54.95, just touching out Damien Joly (3:55.51) of CN Antibes over the last 50 meters.

The women’s 200 fly gave CN Calédoniens’ Lara Grangeon an opportunity to avenge her third-place finish in the 200 breast. Grangeon rocketed to a world top-ten with her winning 2:10.19. Evelyn Verraszto of Olympic Nice finished second in 2:12.32, while Hosszu rounded out the podium with 2:15.30.

Overall point-leader David Verraszto, representing Hungary, eked out a win in the men’s race with 1:59.16 over Jordan Coelho from Stade de Vanves (1:59.43) and Sweden’s Simon Sjodin (1:59.68).

It was an all-international podium in the women’s 50m back, as Ukraine’s Daryna Zevina came in with a top-ten-worth 28.64. Italy’s Laura Letrari touched second in 29.33, just edging Hosszu (29.39), who climbed on a podium rung for the third event in a row. . That was three podia in a row for the Hungarian. Laurine Del’Homme (29.56) of CN Paris and Pauline Mahieu (29.67) of US St-André were the top Frenchwomen in the final.

After sitting out the 100 back thanks to a bronchial infection, Camille Lacourt of CN Marseille felt well enough to race the 50 on Sunday. Good thing, too, as he destroyed the field with a world-leading 24.89. Germany’s Christian Diener and Lacourt’s Marseille teammate Benjamin Stasiulis tied for second with 25.96.

The 50 breast was another very, very close race. Sweden’s Jessica Eriksson (32.49) got her hands to the wall first, narrowly beating Coralie Dobral (32.69) of Montauban and Solène Gallego (32.84) from Dauphins Toulouse.

Hendrik Feldwehr of Germany improved on his third-place finish in the 100 breast with a 28.13 squeaker over Giacomo Perez Dortona of Marseille (28.15). Yevgen Kurkin from Ukraine and Yvan Mandalinic of Sarcelles tied for third with 29.09.

In her fourth final in a row, Hosszu dominated the 200 IM from start to finish. Sweden’s Stina Gardell took it out hard in the fly, leading Hosszu and Verraszto by about 4/10 leading into the back, but Hosszu pulled ahead with the back. She then proceeded to destroy everyone in the breast, and held on for the win. In the end it was Hosszu with 2:12.80, Gardell with 2:15.29, and Verraszto with 2:16.68.

The men’s podium was an exact replica of the 400 IM. David Verraszto crushed the competition over the second 100 meters, coming in for a 2:01.56 win over Nice’s Jeremy Desplanches (2:02.15) and Sweden’s Sjodin (2:03.13).

The final event of the meet was the 100m free, one in which the hometown Nice women are particularly strong. In an exciting finish, Bonnet grabbed the gold in a very nice 54.96, while teammate Cloé Hache earned a bronze with 55.79. The silver medal went to Michelle Coleman of Sweden with 55.18.

The men’s 100 free was no less exciting. Jérémy Stravius of Amiens turned on the jets over the last 35 meters to edge Marseille’s Fabien Gilot, 49.51 to 50.00 for the win. Ukraine’s Andriy Govorov edged Lorys Bourelly of Toulouse for third with 50.46.

The final standings of Stage 1 of the FFN Golden Tour, with their prize winnings, are as follows: