French Olympic Trials: Camille Muffat Blasts 400 Free Textile Best, French Record

DUNKERQUE, France, March 19. THE second day of complicated qualifying continued at the French Olympic Trials with Camille Muffat posting a textile best and a French record in the women's 400 free. Depending on the specific event, the French require a series of heat, semifinal and final cuts to be eligible to make their Olympic roster. Not all event have heat or semifinal cuts.

FINALS
Women's 100 fly
Cuts: Heats: 1:00.50; Semis: 59.13; Finals: 58.70
Justine Bruno won the women's 100 fly with a 59.55, likely securing a spot on the 400 medley relay, while Aurore Mongel wound up second in 59.71. No one locked down an individual swim at the Olympics. Mongel was the only swimmer to advance from prelims to have a shot based on France's qualifying system. She missed out with her semifinal time of 59.96 before taking second tonight.

Lea Giraudon (1:00.33), Diane Bui Duyet (1:00.74), Beryl Gastaldello (1:01.27), Angela Tavernier (1:01.34), Margaux Fabre (1:01.43) and Marie Wattel (1:02.07) finished third through eighth.

Men's 100 breast
Cuts: Semis: 1:01.51; Finals: 1:00.79
Giacomo Perez Dortona missed out on becoming just the second swimmer to secure a guaranteed individual roster spot on the French Olympic team. He bettered the semifinal qualifying cut with a 1:00.97, but fell short of the 1:00.79 in finals with a 1:00.86 for the win. The swim did move him to 12th in the world. USA's Mark Gangloff took second in 1:01.94, while Hugues Duboscq missed qualifying for his fourth Olympic team with a third-place 1:02.11. Duboscq previously represented France in 2000, 2004 and 2008. He earned a total of three Olympic bronze medals during that time period.

Thomas Dahlia (1:02.37), Thomas Rabeisen (1:03.01), Maxime Bussiere (1:03.31), Jeremy Peter (1:03.62) and Thibaut Capitaine (1:03.70) also swam in the finale.

Women's 400 free
Cuts: Finals: 4:09.35
Scratching the semifinals of the 100 fly proved to be a good move for Camille Muffat as not only did she secure the second individual roster spot for the French thus far this week, she downed the French record. Muffat blazed the meet with a time of 4:01.13 to move to the top of the world, ahead of Rebecca Adlington's 4:02.35 from British Trials. The swim eclipsed Laura Manaudou's French record of 4:02.13 from 2006 European Championships, and moved Muffat to fourth all time in the event. Muffat also downed the textile best of 4:01.97 clocked by Italy's Federica Pellegrini during the 2011 World Championships. Currently, only Pellegrini (3:59.15), Joanne Jackson (4:00.60) and Adlington (4:00.79) have been faster than Muffat, all during the techsuit era.

Coralie Balmy gave France its first guaranteed two-person individual event in London with a second-place time of 4:05.45. That effort eclipsed the Olympic qualifying standard in the event.

Ophelie-Cyrielle Etienne (4:09.61), Camelia Potec (4:09.69), Coralie Codevelle (4:18.72), Celia Barrot (4:19.63), Margaux Verger Gourson (4:20.74) and Camille Amardeilh (4:23.30) comprised the rest of the finale.

SEMIFINALS
Men's 200 free
Cuts: Finals: 1:47.82
With the only cut in play in the men's 200 free being a finals cut, semis were all about positioning. Amaury Leveaux led the way with a 1:47.63, while Yannick Agnel took second in 1:47.73. Leveaux improved to 12th in the world with his swim, while Agnel jumped to 14th. Clement Lefert (1:47.79) and Gregory Mallet (1:47.89) finished third and fourth.

Meanwhile, Lorys Bourelly (1:49.14), Guillaume Strohmeyer (1:49.35), Mehdy Metella (1:49.52) and Romain Magula (1:50.41) rounded out the rest of the championship finale.

Women's 100 breast
Cuts: Semis: 1:09.03; Finals: 1:08.49
Morocco's Sara El Bekri led the way with a 1:09.34, while no one from France cleared the French Olympic qualifying time in the event. Claire Polit was the top swimmer from France with a 1:09.81. All that will be up for grabs in the finale is a spot on the 400 medley relay.

Coralie Dobral (1:10.13), Fanny Babou (1:10.47), Sophie De Ronchi (1:11.22), Adeline Martin (1:11.48), Andrea Baudry (1:11.54) and Aggelici Eksarhou of Greece (1:11.63) also earned spots in the finale.

Men's 100 back
Cuts: Finals: 54.40
In another semifinal with only a finals cut time, Camille Lacourt cruised to the top of qualifying with a 53.17. That swim is well under the FINA A cut time, but well off his second-ranked season best of 52.11. Ben Stasiulius qualified second in 54.10, while Jeremy Stravius also cleared the FINA A cut with a 54.28 for third. Eric Ress, based in the U.S. and training with Indiana University, has some work to do with a fourth-seeded 55.10.

Pierre Roger (55.47), Dorian Gandin (55.57), Joris Hustache (55.77) and Alexis Cabrol (55.85) also made their way into finals, while USA's Tyler McGill just missed with a ninth-place 55.92.

Women's 100 back
Cuts: Heats: 1:02.70; Semis: 1:01.36; Finals: 1:00.82
A trio of women remained in contention for two Olympic roster spots for the French. Alexianne Castel, who posted a 1:01.04 in prelims, topped semis with a 1:00.34 to remain alive to make the final cut.

Laure Manaudou also is still in contention after a 1:00.42 in prelims and a 1:00.58 in finals. Manaudou is looking for her third Olympic team after competing for France in 2004 and 2008, including gold, silver and bronze in 2004. She is on the comeback trail after a retirement from Sep. 2009 to July 2011.

Cloe Credeville is the third swimmer vying for two spots with a third-seeded 1:01.24. That swim cleared the semis qualifying time, while her 1:01.24 from prelims beat the prelims cut.

Poland's Aleksandra Putra (1:02.40), Pauline Galateau (1:03.46), Mathilde Cini (1:03.77), Marie Jugnet (1:03.85) and Camille Gherogiu (1:04.05) also earned transfer spots into the finale.

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