French Champs End with More Manaudou Magic

TOURS, France, May 15. AS expected Laure Manaudou closed the French Championships in stylish fashion on Sunday as she claimed two more titles, raising her total for the meet to an astounding seven. On the final night of action, Manaudou set a national record in the 1,500 freestyle (16:03.01) and prevailed in the 100 backstroke (1:01.73).

While Manaudou’s efforts at the competition were highlighted by a world record in the 400 freestyle, the standout also set national records in the 200 and 400 individual medley events and the 200 freestyle. For good measure, she also won the 100 back and 800 free. Certainly, Manaudou is staring at a phenomenal showing at this summer’s European Championships in Budapest, Hungary.

Already the winner of the 400 and 800 freestyles, along with the 400 I.M., Nicolas Rostoucher punctuated his meet with a French record in the 1,500 freestyle. Rostoucher covered the distance in 15:03.37 to secure an easy win over Sebastien Rouault (15:16.26). Coming off a strong college season for the University of Georgia, Rouault had three second-place finishes.

In other events, Hugues Duboscq capped a sweep of the male breaststroke events by winning the 50 distance in 28.59, ahead of the 28.70 effort turned in by Great Britain’s Chris Cook. Kate Haywood, of Great Britain, won the women’s version of the event in a championship-record time of 32.17. In the men’s 100 backstroke, Simon DuFour took top honors in 55.88.

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