French Olympic Trials: Amaury Leveaux Sets National Record in Men’s 200 Free

DUNKIRK, France, April 22. THE third day of competition at the French Olympic Trials held in Dunkirk featured a national record from Amaury Leveaux in the men's 200 free as well as a big scratch from Laure Manaudou.

Leveaux whacked nearly half-a-second from his national record in the men's 200 free finale with a time of 1:46.54. He cleared his previous record of 1:46.99 set last month in Eindhoven.

With world-record holder Laure Manaudou scratching semifinals, the women's 200 free is wide open. Alena Popchanka (1:58.29) and Aurore Mongel (1:58.36) topped qualifying, while Coralie Balmy (1:58.76) and Camille Muffat (1:58.83) will bracket them in finals.

The scratch did not look to help Manaudou as the national-record holder in the event with a 59.50 to her credit wound up hitting a minute on the nose with a 1:00.00 in finals. She'd already posted a 59.98 during semis to earn the top seed. The battle for second place came down to a close fight between Alexiane Castel and Alexandra Putra. Castel emerged triumphant, 1:00.60 to 1:00.73, and earned France's second spot in Beijing as both times cleared the Olympic cut.

In the men's 100 back finals, Benjamin Stasiulis nipped the long-standing meet record with a time of 55.17 to win the event. Franck Schott set the previous standard with a 55.18 way back in 1992. Both times, however, are short of the Olympic cut this year.

Russian Elena Bogomazova just missed her meet record of 1:08.63 set last year as she hit the wall in 1:08.64 for the women's 100 breast victory this year. Sophie De Ronchi of France placed second in 1:09.03, just missing the Olympic standard.

In the men's 200 fly semifinal round, Christophe Lebon showed he is head-and-shoulders above the rest of the competition with a time of 1:57.42, already clearing the Olympic standard. Clement Lefert offered the closest time with a second-place 2:02.44.

Joanne Andraca led the final semifinal round with a time of 2:14.18 in the women's 200 IM. She paced a group of four swimmers already under the Olympic standard as Cylia Vabre (2:14.54), Muffat (2:14.99) and De Ronchi (2:15.21) comprised the rest of the top four finishers.

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