French Short Course Nationals: Bunch of National Records Fall

ANGERS, France, December 5. THE first night of swimming at the French Short Course National Championships featured plenty of French national records taking a tumble.

Alena Popchanka opened up the night with a winning time of 24.78 in the women's 50 free. Fred Bousquet followed with a pair of national records in the men's 50 free. First, he clocked a 21.00 during prelims before besting that mark with a 20.86 during finals. The 20.86 actually threatened the European record of 20.81 held by Duje Draganja. Amaury Leveaux placed second in 20.95.

The distance events came next. Ophelie Cyrielle Etienne grabbed the women's 800 free title ahead of Camelia Potec, 8:24.73 to 8:25.46. Meanwhile, Xavier Lepretre snared the men's 1500 free title in 14:50.40.

Alexiane Castel downed the French record in the women's 200 back with a time of 2:03.22. That effort surpassed the 2:04.08 set by Esther Baron in 2006. Castel finished ahead of Cloe Credeville (2:08.65) and Laure Manaudou (2:08.69).

Pierre Roger then picked up the men's 200 back title in 1:52.83, knocking off Camille Lacourt (1:53.85) and Jeremy Stravius (1:55.59).

Sophie De Ronchi smashed the French record in the women's 100 breast with a time of 1:05.56. That performance beat her preliminary standard of 1:06.09, which in turn beat the previous record of 1:07.42 set by Anne-Sophie Le Paranthoen in 2007.

Hugues Duboscq also lowered a French record with a 58.14 in the men's 100 breast. That readout wiped out the preliminary record of 58.76 set by Giacomo Perez Dortona, which in turn beat Duboscq's 2006 standard of 59.05. James Gibson of Great Britain finished in second with a 58.19.

Another French standard fell in the women's 100 fly. Diane Bui Duyet clocked a time of 56.86 to beat Popchanka's 2007 record of 57.55, and scare the European record of 56.55 held by Martina Moravcova since 2002.

Spain's Raphael Munoz won the men's 100 fly in a time of 50.63, to break the meet record of 51.86 set by Romain Barnier in 2005.

Camille Muffat eclipsed the French record in the women's 100 IM with a time of 1:00.14. That swim erased the 1:00.34 set by De Ronchi back in 2007, while Antoine Galavtine closed the first day of the meet with a French record of 52.72 in the men's 100 IM. That performance knocked out the 53.07 he set back in 2007.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

Welcome to our community. We invite you to join our discussion. Our community guidelines are simple: be respectful and constructive, keep on topic, and support your fellow commenters. Commenting signifies that you agree to our Terms of Use

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
0
Would love your thoughts, please comment.x
()
x