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Photo Courtesy: Connor Trimble<\/p><\/div>\n
The 20-year-old was back in the pool on Saturday morning, the cobwebs taking some blowing off as he finished seventh in the 200 prelims in 2:02.13 with Antoine Herlem<\/strong> and Geoffroy Mathieu<\/strong> booking the centre lanes in 1:58.10 and 1:58.67.<\/p>\n
Come the final and it was a completely different matter.<\/p>\n
Ndoye Brouard was out in 26.87 – 0.69 ahead of his nearest challenger – and subsequent splits of 29.64\/30.25\/29.34 brought him home in 1:56.10, 0.29secs inside the French record\u00a0 of 1:56.39 that Benjamin Stasiulis<\/strong> set on 23 March 2012 at the Olympic trials.<\/p>\n
It was a time that would have been good enough for bronze at the 2018 Europeans and fourth at the 2019 worlds.<\/p>\n
Mathieu was second in 1:57.60 with Apostolos Christou<\/strong> replicating his third place in the 100 in 1:58.58.<\/p>\n
Mewen Tomac<\/strong> – second behind Ndoye Brouard on Friday as both made the consideration time for Tokyo – was fourth in 1:58.79.<\/p>\n
Ndoye Brouard – coached by Michel Chretien – told the French Swimming Federation:<\/p>\n

“I had no strategy. I was dead after my 100m yesterday.\u00a0I rested a little, this morning I did not work and I just made it to the final.<\/p>\n
“That was the goal, I wanted to enter this final with the seventh or eighth fastest time because in Saint-Rapha\u00ebl I raced a bit for everyone, starting quickly.<\/p>\n
“This time I was in lane one and no-one was watching me. At the end I saw that I was in front, it made me feel good and I finished very strong.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Chretien was coach to Stasiulis when he set the previous record and Ndoye Brouard was surprised to have attained Tokyo qualification in both the 100 and 200 back.<\/p>\n
“He (Chretien) thinks I have a 200m swim more than a 100m swim so I had to be stronger over that distance.<\/p>\n
“Personally I felt stronger in the 100m, in the end it was just happiness.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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Leon Marchand: Photo Courtesy: KMSP \/ St\u00e9phane Kempinaire<\/p><\/div>\n
Marchand set a new PB in the 200IM on Friday to book his Tokyo spot and then continued his fine form in the longer medley.<\/p>\n
The 18-year-old had held the French record since August 2019 when he stopped the clock at 4:16.37 en-route to bronze at the World Junior Championships in Budapest.<\/p>\n
Marchand was third-fastest into the final in 4:22.59 and qualification attained, he rested and recovered and returned to the Marseille pool in the early evening.<\/p>\n
Fourth at the first turn, that was the only time Marchand was not out in front at the head of the field.<\/p>\n
Splits<\/em>: 58.14\/1:05.93\/1:11.66\/59.24<\/p>\n
Marchand though wasn’t getting carried away, saying:<\/p>\n
“Yes, it’s nice! It’s not what I had in mind, but I set my best time after I had stagnated at 4’16 for almost two years.”<\/p>\n
He added: “Tonight I still made a few small mistakes.\u00a0By correcting them, the stopwatch should go down further.”<\/p>\n
Wattel Leads Home Speedy 100 Free; Rapsys Wins 200 Tussle<\/h3>\n $\"Marie$
Marie Wattel; Photo Courtesy: MIKE LEWIS \/ ISL<\/p><\/div>\n
Wattel led from start to finish to win a 100 free race in which the first five women came home in 53s.<\/p>\n
The Frenchwoman stormed the first 50 in 25.25 with Charlotte Bonnet<\/strong> and Rio 2016 50 free champion Pernille Blume<\/strong> locked on 25.75 in second.<\/p>\n
Femke Heemskerk<\/strong> turned in fourth but a second-50 blast of 27.52 propelled the Netherlands swimmer past the rest of the field but falling 0.09secs short of challenging Wattel.<\/p>\n
Wattel won in 53.32 with Heemskerk clocking 53.41 as Bonnet (53.70), Federica Pellegrini<\/strong> (53.84) and Blume (53.89) rounded out the speedy field.<\/p>\n
Wattel said:<\/p>\n
“I really had the worst possible race from a strategic point of view. I left very quickly, but that’s what I wanted because I wanted to take risks.<\/p>\n
“If I am in the final of the Games, the best girls will leave like this. It really hurt me in the last 25 metres and in the last five metres I tell myself it’s not going to pass. But sometimes swimming with the heart pays off and it’s fun.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The two-time European relay champion booked her ticket for the 100free in Tokyo having already qualified in the 100 fly, prompting emotion from Wattel.<\/p>\n
“I remember that in Rio in 2016, I noticed that the best in the 100m butterfly also dominated the 100m freestyle.<\/p>\n
“I told myself that I wanted to be among these girls and among the best sprinters in the world. It was a bet I took four and a half years ago now and it’s coming true so it’s cool.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Rapsys prevailed in a tussle with Nils Liess<\/strong> in the 200 free.<\/p>\n
The Lithuanian was out in 24.77 – 0.23 ahead of Liess – but the Swiss swimmer came back on the second 50 with a 26.54 blast to move 0.43 in front at the halfway stage.<\/p>\n
Liess extended the lead to 0.70 at the final turn but back came Rapsys with a 27.05 last 50 to stop the clock at 1:46.98.<\/p>\n
Liess was second in 1:47.40, 0.04 ahead of Roman Mityukov<\/strong> who just failed to make up the deficit in 1:47.40.<\/p>\n
Rapsys will head to his second Olympics in search of his first international long-course title two years after he was disqualified after touching first at the 2019 World Championships<\/strong> in Gwangju.<\/strong><\/p>\n
Kamminga Dominates 200br; Joly Good In 1500 Free<\/h3>\n
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Arno Kamminga; Photo Courtesy: Foto Giorgio Scala \/ Deepbluemedia \/Insidefoto<\/p><\/div>\n
Arno Kamminga<\/strong> joined the 2:06 club when he went 2:06.85 in early December<\/a> in an event that promises to be a thriller come Tokyo.<\/p>\n
The three-time European short-course champion split 28.67\/322.38\/33.27\/33.76, dominating throughout to win by more than three seconds in 2:08.08.<\/p>\n
Christopher Rothbauer<\/strong> was second in 2:11.43 with Marco Koch<\/strong> third in 2:11.72.<\/p>\n
Lisa Mamie<\/strong> of Switzerland won the women’s equivalent race in 2:25.88.<\/p>\n
Damien Joly<\/strong> dominated the 1500 free to win in 14:55.94 – the fastest in the world in 2021 and inside the cut for Tokyo.<\/p>\n
Marc-Antoine Olivier<\/strong> – 10km bronze medallist at Rio 2016 – was more than 11secs adrift in 15:07.06 for second.<\/p>\n
Cyrielle Duhamel<\/strong> won the women’s 200IM in 2:13.52 with Lilou Resencourt<\/strong> taking the 200 fly in 2:11.88.<\/p>\n
Kira Toussaint<\/strong> sped to the 50 back in 27.87 with clear water to her Netherlands team-mate Maaike de Waard<\/strong> (28.12).<\/p>\n
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