Viquerat Provides Answer To France’s Breaststroke Hole With OLY Qualification

2021 FRENCH ELITE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, June 15 – Sunday, June 20, 2021
• Piscine de l’Odyssée, Chartres, France
• Long Course Meters (50M)
• Olympic Selection Event
• French Olympic Qualifying Procedures
• Meet Site (LIVE FFN)
• List of Entrants
• Live Results
• Television rights: beIN SPORTS

2 men have added their names to the Olympic roster on the 4th day of racing at the 2021 French Elite Swimming Championships which is serving as the countries final qualification opportunity for Tokyo.

First up, Antoine Viquerat hit a 2:10.21 to nab gold in the men’s 200 breaststroke to skate under the qualifying time of 2:10.35 by only 0.14 seconds. After nobody managed to qualify in the men’s or women’s 100 breaststroke, Viquerat became France’s first Olympic qualifier in the breast since 2012. His 2:10.35 was more than a second quicker than his 2:11.44 heading into the meet.

After Viquerat’s breaststroke breakthrough, Maxime Grousset threw down his second sub-48 100 freestyle of the day and notched a 47.89 in the final to substantially clear the 48.57 qualification time. While Grousset was the only man to get under the auto-qualification standard, it will be up to the selection committee to decide if Florent Manaudou‘s 48.58 in the morning will be enough to get him a spot on the team for the event individually. Manaudou was the second-fastest man at the meet with his prelim swim but scratched the final.

Manaudou is already qualified for the Olympics in the 50 freestyle and will likely be a member of the 4×100 freestyle along with other members of the final including Charles Rihoux (48.81), Clément Mignon (48.89), and Mehdy Metella (48.93).

Presumptive 2021 French Olympic Roster Through Day 3 (Subject To Change)

• Florent Manaudou – 50 freestyle
• Yohann Ndoye Brouard – 100 / 200 backstroke
• David Aubry – 800 freestyle
• Marie Wattel – 100 freestyle / 100 butterfly
• Melanie Henique – 50 freestyle
• Leon Marchand – 400 IM / 200 butterfly
• Fantine Lesaffre – 200 IM
• Cyrielle Duhamel – 200 IM
• Théo Bussière – 100 breaststroke (medley relay leg)
• Mewen Tomac – 100 backstroke
• Jordan Pothain – 200 freestyle
• Jonathan Atsu – 200 freestyle
• Charlotte Bonnet – 200 freestyle
• Antoine Viquerat – 200 breaststroke
• Maxime Grousset – 100 freestyle