Manaudou Books Ticket To Tokyo And Henique Goes Fifth All-Time In 50 Fly At French Elite Meet

Florent Manaudou: Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS / ISL

Florent Manaudou booked his ticket for Tokyo and Melanie Henique went fifth all-time in the 50 fly with a national record of 25.24 on the second evening of the French Elite Championships in Saint-Raphael.

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Manaudou followed up gold at London 2012 with silver in Rio four years later when Anthony Ervin got his hand to the wall 0.01secs ahead.

The four-time world champion had gone 21.89 in the morning heats before returning to the pool to go 21.73, 0.07 inside the time required.

Clement Mignon was second in 21.91 – outside the cut – with Maxime Grousset third in 22.17.

Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS/ISL

Henique had served notice in the 50 fly heats when she headed the field in a PB of 25.52 but there was more to come in the evening.

That was just 0.02 outside the national record of 25.50 Marie Wattel set at the 2019 World Championships in Gwangju.

The 2011 world bronze medallist destroyed that in the final though by lowering it to 25.24, leaving Wattel 0.78 adrift in her slipstream in 26.02.

That time elevated Henique to joint fifth alongside Jeanette Ottesen of Denmark who set the time at the World Championships in 2015.

Sarah Sjostrom (SWE) – 24.43, 2014
Therese Alshammar (SWE) – 25.07, 2009
Rikako Ikee (JPN) – 25.11, 2018
Fran Halsall (GBR) – 25.20, 2014
Jeanette Ottesen (DEN) – 25.24, 2013 & Melanie Henique – 25.24, 2020

Gold For Tomac, Marchand And 15-Year-old Delmas

Mewen Tomac was narrowly outside the stringent French qualification standards despite winning the 100 backstroke in a swift 53.46.

Out in 25.72 and back in 27.74, Tomac fell 0.13 short of booking his spot on the team.

Yohann Ndoye Brouard was second in 53.95 with Stanisland Oil took third in 54.52.

Leon Marchand took the honours in the 200 fly with a speedy 1:56.63.

Splits: 26.19/56.13/1:26.13/1:56.63

Second was British open water specialist Hector Pardoe (2:00.90) with Clement Secchi rounding out the podium in 2:01.31.

European champion Charlotte Bonnet claimed the 200 free title in 1:56.65 – just 0.02secs outside the cut.

Anna Egorova of Russia (1:57.58) and Assia Touati (1:59.97) took the minor placings.

Fifteen-year-old Justine Delmas won the 100m breaststroke in 1:08.83 ahead of Fanny Deberghes (1:09.02) and Cyrielle Duhamel (1:09.83).

Jeremy Desplanches overturned a deficit of 1.23secs at the final turn to win the 200br by just 0.01.

The Swiss swimmer touched in 2:11.81 ahead of Antoine Viquerat (2:11.82) with Clement Bidard completing the rostrum in 2:13.80.

fantine-lesaffre-400-im-prelims-2019-world-championships

Fantine Lesaffre: Photo Courtesy: Becca Wyant

European champion Fantine Lesaffre added the 400IM title to the shorter medley she won on Thursday.

Lesaffre led from start to finish to touch in 4:41.64, 6.18secs ahead of Camille Tissandie who clocked 4:47.82.

Lesaffre has not yet attained the qualification times for Tokyo in either medley and Friday’s race was very much about the next generation with all but two swimmers born this millennium.

Ayoub Hafnaoui added the 800 free title to the 400 he won on Thursday after overhauling David Aubry on the final 50 to win in 7:52.58, the Frenchman 0.06 behind in 7:52.64.

Olympic open water bronze medallist Marc-Antoine Olivier rounded out the podium in 7:53.78.

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