Nowaczyk Enters French Women’s 400 Free Relay Olympic Picture

XIIe Meeting National Eurocom de Massy

• Friday, March 5th – Sunday, March 7th
• Massy, France
• LCM (50m)
• Results

The nation of France may well have found its final team member of the women’s 400m freestyle relay for Tokyo, as 18-year-old Lison Nowaczyk recently logged a lifetime best in the individual 100m free.

Competing in Massy last week, Nowaczyk (birthdate: 01/27/03), got under the 55-second for the very first time of her young career, stopping the clock in a mark of 54.92.

Opening in 26.44 and closing in 28.48, Nowaczyk represented the only swimmer of the field to produce a mark under 56-seconds, let alone 55. Her outing overtook her previous career-quickest of 55.33 from just this past February and now bumps her up to become the 4th fastest French performer in the event since last September.

Top 5 French LCM 100 Freestyle Performers Since September 2020

#1 Beryl Gastaldello & Marie Wattel – 53.40
#3 Charlotte Bonnet – 53.82
#4 Lison Nowaczyk, 54.92
#5 Anouchka Martin – 55.23

Adding up the above top 4 swim results gives us a collective 400m free relay time of 3:35.54, a conservative estimate without rolling starts that puts the potential squad less than a second away from the French national record. The record produced in December 2020 included Wattel, Bonnet, Martin and Gastaldello, giving them the top wildcard entry for at-large relay bids for the postponed 2020 Olympic Games.

Nowaczyk has elite international experience, having competed at the 2019 European Junior Championships. She helped her squad claim bronze in the 400m free relay there in Kazan. The teen also placed 8th in the 50 freestyle at the 2019 FINA World Junior Championsihps.