World Championships, Day Seven Finals: Maxime Grousset Blasts European Record for Gold in 100 Butterfly
By no fault of his own, Maxime Grousset often doesn’t receive the attention he deserves. As a Frenchman, Grousset is overshadowed by the exploits of countryman Leon Marchand, the four-time Olympic champion and world-record holder in multiple events. But Grousset is as good as it gets in the sprint-butterfly disciplines, and he confirmed that status at the World Championships on Saturday night.
After capturing the gold medal in the 50-meter butterfly on the opening night of competition in Singapore, Grousset was a buzzsaw in the final of the 100 fly. Registering a time of 49.62, Grousset surged to the title in the third-fastest time in history, an effort bettered only by American Caeleb Dressel (45.45/45.50). In addition to setting a European record, Grousset complemented his world title in the event from 2023.
Grousset needed every bit of that sensational showing, with Switzerland’s Noe Ponti pushing him to the wall in a career-best mark of 49.83. By dipping under the 50-second barrier, Grousset and Ponti made it seven members of the sub-50 club. The bronze medal was claimed by Canada’s Ilya Kharun, who went 50.07 to finish ahead of countryman Josh Liendo, who was fourth in 50.09.
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Unlike many events, identfying a favorite was not an easy task. While Liendo and Kharun were the silver and bronze medalists from last summer’s Olympic Games in Paris, Grousset and Ponti entered the final ranked first and second in the world.
Turning to his raw speed, Grousset surged into the lead over the first lap with a split of 22.80. Down the last length, the field closed the gap on the Frenchman, but not enough to dent Grousset’s early advantage. In becoming the No. 2 performer in history, Grousset lowered the European record of Hungarian Kristof Milak, who clocked 49.68 on the way to the silver medal at the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.
Quietly through the years, Grousset has now won seven individual medals at the World Championships, hardware collected over four events – 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 50 butterfly and 100 butterfly.
Now the No. 5 performer of all-time, Ponti picked up his second silver medal of the meet, following his runnerup finish in the 50 fly. The Swiss star has now medaled in the 100 fly at the Olympic Games, World Championships and European Championships, a testament to his high-level consistency on the international stage.
“(The) 50 fly was pretty close, (and the) 100 fly was also very competitive,” Ponti said. “I’m happy to be a part of these fast races and be on the podium even if it wasn’t so easy to win a medal. I was expecting (myself) to swim sub-50 today. In L.A., (you’ll need) pretty much the same time, 49.9 to make the podium.”
Fifth at the midway point, Kharun split 26.47 on the way home, the fastest back half in the field and enough to surge ahead of Liendo. Kharun’s swim of 50.07 was the fastest of his career and makes him the eighth-fastest performer in history. Kharun had earlier finished fourth in the 200 butterfly, just .17 off the podium.
“I didn’t really doubt myself because I know myself and I know my speed,” Kharun said. “It’s kind of like in chess, how you have to make the right moves to get there. Probably needed more training for the 200 meters… But during the 50 metres, it felt like there was nothing I could do because one little mistake led me to not make it. I can only just learn from it, and keep going.”
