The French men will be looking to repeat as Olympic champions in tonight’s 4 x 100 freestyle relay. The team made up of Clement Mignon (48.54), William Meynard (49.05), Fabien Gilot (47.88) and Mehdy Metella (47.75) qualified for the final in the fourth place position, behind Russia, the United States and Australia.
Jeremy Stravius, who won the 100 freestyle at the French Trials, will be one of the men on tonight’s relay as the French once again go for gold. One of the reasons Stravius did not swim on this morning’s relay was that he also competed in the prelims of the 200 freestyle. Unlike fellow countryman Yannick Agnel, Stravius did qualify for the semi-finals posting a time of 1:46.67, which ranked 11th.
After his swim he felt it was unlikely he would record a time that would place in the top eight so he has decided to pull out of the 200 freestyle semi-final to focus on tonight’s relay.
“He didn’t think he would go around a 1:45.50 and, with the complication of events that follow each other, he prefers to give his all to the relay and have an extra day of recuperation for the 100 free (scheduled on Tuesday, the day after the 200m free),” his coach Michel Chrétien told L’Equipe.
It is assumed that the makeup of the French team for the final will be drastically different than the one that raced in the prelims. It is expected that the relay will include Stravius, Florent Manaudou, Gilot and Metella will make up the team competing for the gold.
I have always said THE AMERICAN look better in silver or bronze — gold just isn’t a good color for them (well like last 2 world championship and last olympics in a row)