French Olympic Trials: Meet Comes to Close

DUNKIRK, France, April 27. THE final day of the French Olympic Trials featured opposite ends of the spectrum with the women's 50 free and men's 1500 free being contested among other events.

Malia Metella demonstrated some consistency in the women's 50 free. With a national record of 24.89 heading into the meet from 2004, Metella dipped under the time twice during the meet. After setting the national record with a 24.83 during semifinals, she clocked a 24.87 to win the event on the final day.

Celine Couderc will join Metella in Beijing after clocking a second-place time of 25.29, which is under the Olympic cut. Hanna Shcherba Lorgeril also beat the Olympic standard with a third-place 25.31, but will not head to Beijing.

Sebastien Rouault put together a strong men's 1500 free finale as he topped the event with a time of 15:03.71. While not in the realm of his national-record time of 14:55.73, he did beat the Olympic cut. Nicolas Rostoucher will also head to Beijing with a second-place 15:12.29.

In relay action, the international team of Esther Baron (FRA), Elena Bogomazova (RUS), Gabriella Fagundez (SWE) and Margaux Fabre (FRA) broke the meet record with a time of 4:07.25 in the women's 400 medley relay. That time wiped out the 4:07.76 previously set in 2006.

Joris Hustache, Kevin Dillmann, Christophe Lebon and Alain Bernard then captured the men's 400 medley relay in 3:40.62 with Bernard dropping a 46.96 on the anchor leg.

Results from the men's 400 medley relay and B final of the 1500 free were not available at press time.

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