For this second day of the French championships in Angers, nine swimmers achieved the qualifying times for the European short course championships in Bucharest (December 5-10).
Charlotte Bonnet, French 200m freestyle champion:
It was a very difficult race because emotionally it takes a lot for me to come back to this event where I have very high reference times. I swam to win tonight, nothing more. I’m happy with what I was able to do. I experienced everything about this 200 m: great races, excruciating pain when getting out of the water. My body hasn’t forgotten and when I dive in France for a 200m, I have seven girls who want to beat me. It’s sometimes demanding to defend titles. I saw the girls next to me and I tried to stay in my race. I’m in good shape but maybe not yet for this 200m. Every length I saw them and I wanted to beat them. Pleasure is not the key word of the evening but that’s normal, I can’t have hated this race and suddenly love it again. I was apprehensive and I research my swimming a lot so I don’t go there with enthusiasm and desire every time. Hopefully it comes back and if it doesn’t, it’s no big deal.
KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
Damien Joly, French vice-champion in the 800m freestyle
It was my first race of the year and the contract is fulfilled. I get my qualification and that’s all that matters. I came down from my altitude training yesterday, I didn’t really know what to expect but I’m quite happy with this performance. It’s always good to compete, it’s the very essence of high-level sport. That’s why I’m happy to qualify for the Euros in Bucharest. Last year I missed out on the 800 so it’s good to achieve the minimums this time. There are four of us who succeed and that pulls us to the top. In ten years, I have never seen this in France.
Florent Manaudou, French vice-champion in the 50m freestyle
I had fun tonight, it was cool. I did almost the same race as yesterday during the 4x50m freestyle relay (20”96). I changed a couple of things and did what I wanted to do. I have information for the future and it’s good to be able to have this rivalry with Maxime. I’m looking for a long course swim and it bothers me to have a wall between the two because I don’t work on that. I’m not prepared for this but I still like what I see. I’m trying to get really high on the water and I feel like I’m succeeding. Maybe I can aim for 20”6 or 20”7 in Bucharest, we’ll see how it goes there.
KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
Lucien Vergnes, French 200m breaststroke champion
It’s cool to achieve a time like that but I missed the qualifying time for the Euros by less than a tenth and that’s a shame. It was a challenge to find this time even if it is not the objective of the season because we are all focused on the Games. For the moment everything is going well in my daily life. I still have the 50 and 100m breaststroke as well as the 200m medley and relays this week. I did a good 100m medley yesterday. We’ll see what happens next.
KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
Maxime Grousset, champion of France in the 50 m nage libre
It was a nice 50m. Last year in Chartres I didn’t go under 21” even though I was in better shape than that. Winning again against Florent is always a pleasure. We have great duels every time and fortunately he is there. My ambition is to win whatever happens whatever my state of form. I quickly got rid of the frustration of the 100m medley yesterday to focus on the 50m freestyle. With Florent, we look at each other before the race, we increase the pressure and it’s really nice. I win by a hundredth and it’s nice even if for him it must be annoying. In Bucharest, I will definitely be better.
KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
Yohann Ndoye Brouard, French vice-champion in the 100m backstroke
I believe that this is my best time in the French short course championships, it is in any case better than last year, which was not the case in the 200m backstroke. Something is happening in the flows where it doesn’t hold up yet. I’m happy because the work is starting to pay off. This short course season is important because it allows you to work on the non-swimming parts. I’m going to face the best Europeans in Bucharest and it’s always interesting. This will give me the opportunity to gain further experience.
Pacome Bricout, French 800m freestyle champion
I’m very happy because I wanted to get my qualification. The weather is very good. That was my main goal. I will rest tomorrow and then focus on the 1500m freestyle, hoping to qualify as well. It’s true that it goes very quickly for me. Everything has come together since the Giant Open last year. I qualified for the Worlds and there I won two French championship titles. It really clicked after my victory in the 400m freestyle at the Giant Open.
KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
Mewen Tomac, French 100m backstroke champion
I qualify and I’m under 50” so that’s good. I had difficulty getting started at the first 25 m and I lacked the freshness to go even faster. I’m not in that great shape and I didn’t expect to swim that fast because we didn’t let up much. My goal is to win a medal at the European Short Course Championships in Bucharest.
KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
Collected in Angers by Jonathan Cohen
2023-10-28 16:08:16
#Championnats #France #dAngers #Grousset #advances #Manaudou
