Pacome Bricout Breaks French Age Record in 800 Free, Qualifies for Worlds with 7:50.29

2023 French Elite Championships

18-year-old Pacome Bricout, who swims for the French club Stade de Vanves but trains with Philippe Lucas in Martigues, took a huge, 3.3-second bite out of the French National Age Record for 18-year-old boys in the 800 free on Wednesday with his third-place finish of 7:50.29.

Bricout came in as the #5 entrant with a seed time of 7:56.78, which he swam in March. That time made him the third-fastest French 18-year-old performer in the event. Swimming in lane 2 in the final, Bricout dropped 6.5 seconds and jumped to the top of the age group list with 7:50.29. The old 18-year-old age record had been 7:53.59, set by Tommy Lee Camblong in 2019.

With his swim, Bricout cleared the French qualifying standard for the World Championships in Fukuoka by 2.82 seconds. And although he finished third in the race behind Damien Joly (7:49.41) and Marc-Antoine Olivier (7:50.23), the latter is ineligible for selection, so Bricout earns the second slot.

Splits: Bricout, 2023 Camblong, 2019
50 27.13 27.99
100 56.60 (29.47) 57.92 (29.93)
150 1:25.98 (28.38) 1:27.77 (29.85)
200 1:55.66 (29.68) 1:57.86 (30.09)
250 2:25.12 (29.46) 2:27.54 (29.68)
300 2:54.76 (29.64) 2:57.75 (30.21)
350 3:24.44 (29.68) 3:27.35 (29.60)
400 3:54.24 (29.80) 3:57.66 (30.31)
450 4:23.98 (29.74) 4:27.17 (29.51)
500 4:54.05 (30.07) 4:56.98 (29.81)
550 5:24.05 (30.00) 5:26.80 (29.82)
600 5:54.07 (30.02) 5:57.13 (30.33)
650 6:23.70 (29.73) 6:26.37 (29.24)
700 6:53.53 (29.83) 6:55.95 (29.58)
750 7:22.55 (29.02) 7:25.28 (29.33)
800 7:50.29 (27.74) 7:53.59 (28.31)

Bricout split a very even race, going 3:54.2/3:56.0 on his two halves. He was more than 3 seconds faster on each 400, having split 3:57.6/3:59.1 in his previous PB.

Bricout also owns the SCM 800 free age record in the event for both 17-year-olds and 18-year-olds. He clocked a 7:43.16 last December when he was still 17.

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About Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant

Anne Lepesant is the mother of four daughters, all of whom swam in college. With an undergraduate degree from Princeton (where she was an all-Ivy tennis player) and an MBA from INSEAD, she worked for many years in the financial industry, both in France and the U.S. Anne is currently …

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