MONTPELLIER, France, April 25. AS anticipated as the men's 100 free was the other night, the men's 100 fly final had a similar feel tonight, as many expected Spaniard Rafael Munoz Perez to set a new world record. Munoz put on a great show, but came up just short of Ian Crocker's 50.40, finishing in 50.46. The crowd was treated to a superb night of swimming, as a handful of French national records fell during the evening as well. <\/p>\n
With 2004 Olympic champ Camelia Potec absent from the semifinals, the door has been opened in the women's 200 free. Five women cracked the 2:00 barrier in the semifinals, with Sweden's Gabriella Fagundez taking the top spot in a time of 1:59.17. Coralie Balmy, who finished second in the 400 last night, will occupy the second position with a 1:59.50. Ophelie Cyrielle Etienne (1:59.61), Sophie Huber (1:59.76) and Camille Muffat (1:59.79) finished just behind. Rounding out the rest of the final will be Margaux Fabre, Mylene Lazare and Coralie Codevelle. <\/p>\n
Coming off a solid performance in the 400 free yesterday, Tunisia's Ahmed Mathlouthi posted the fastest time in the semis of the men's 200 free at 1:47.65. Gregory Mallet qualified second in 1:48.00, just ahead of Sebastien Bodet (1:48.56). Kevin Trannoy and Julien Codevelle were the only other men under 1:50 in the field, taking fourth and fifth in 1:49.11 and 1:49.92, respectively. <\/p>\n
Morocco's Sara El Bekri established a new Championship Record in the women's 100 breast, qualifying first for finals in 1:08.23; that bettered her national record of 1:08.66 from the Beijing Olympics. She finished just ahead of Sophie De Ronchi, whose time of 1:08.81 was just off the French national record of 1:08.68, set by Anne-Sophie Le Paranthoen in 2007. Fanny Babou took third in 1:09.27 and Coralie Dobral touched fourth in 1:09.37. Adeline Williams, Julia Vendeville, Andrea Baudry and Julie Pujol will complete tomorrow's championship heat. <\/p>\n
Brazil's Henrique Ribiero Marques tied the Championship record in the men's 100 breast with a time of 1:00.05 to lead all championship qualifiers. Giacomo Perez Dortona placed second in 1:00.80 and Great Britain's James Gibson took third in 1:00.84. Tony de Pellegrini dropped almost two seconds off his morning swim to place fourth in 1:00.90. French record-holder Hugues Duboscq finished fifth in 1:01.49. <\/p>\n
Alexianne Castel sliced two and a half seconds from her semifinal time to win the women's 200 back in 2:07.55. Cloe Credeville finished a distant second in 2:09.79 and Esther Baron grabbed the final podium spot in 2:10.58. <\/p>\n
Benjamin Stasiulis tied Simon Dufour's French record of 1:57.90 in winning the men's 200 back. Dufour set the record at the 2003 World Championships. Jeremy Stravius took second in 1:59.12 and Joris Hustache dropped three seconds from his semi time to finish third in 1:59.46.<\/p>\n
French record-holder Camille Muffat asserted her place as the top woman in France by posting the fastest qualifying swim in the women's 200 IM. Her time of 2:12.54 was two seconds ahead of second-place Lara Grangeon's 2:14.52. Charlie Marqueton (2:15.65), Sophie De Ronchi (2:16.57) and Joanne Andraca (2:16.60) rounded out the five fastest swimmers who will move on to the championship final tomorrow.<\/p>\n
Christophe Soulier erased Xavier Marchand's eleven year old national record in the men's 200 IM from the books with a time of 2:00.38, but it wasn't enough to qualify first in the event as South Africa's Darian Townsend crushed the field with a 1:57.03 semi time. Marchand's record stood at 2:01.08. Fabien Horth placed third in 2:02.51 and Tunisia's Taki M'Rabet placed fourth in 2:02.85. <\/p>\n
Aurore Mongrel zipped to a quick time of 57.80 in the women's 100 fly final, cutting half a second off her old national record of 58.30. Diane Bui Duyet snuck in for second in 58.64, followed by Lea Giraudon (58.97). Three other women also broke 1:00, including Melanie Henique (59.07), Gabriella Fagundez (59.31) and Magali Rousseau (59.44).<\/p>\n
Rafael Munoz Perez has been on fire of late, and his hot streak continued in the 100 fly. After posting a time of 50.85 in semis, there was talk of a possible world record in tonight's final. Munoz came up just .06 short of Ian Crocker's world record, touching in 50.46. That time was good enough for a new European and Championship record, however. Clement Lefert established a new French record of 51.42 in finishing second, while Romain Sassot took third in 52.48. <\/p>\n
The men's and women's 400 medley relays closed out the session. CN Marseille topped the women's race with a time of 4:05.69. The team from Dauphins Toulouse OEC came in second in 4:08.19. For the men, CN Marseille set a new French record, winning the event in 3:34.63. The previous record was 3:34.78, set last year in Beijing. Lagardere Paris Racing took second in 3:35.23.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
MONTPELLIER, France, April 25. AS anticipated as the men's 100 free was the other night, the men's 100 fly final had a similar feel tonight, as many expected Spaniard Rafael<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"dois","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[10,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-20976","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-world","category-zzzzzzzzz"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n