French Trials: Maxime Grousset Goes 47.65 & Florent Manaudou Breaks 48 For Second Time In 100 Free Prelims
Maxime Grousset scorched to 47.65 in the 100 free prelims as he and Florent Manaudou both went inside 48 on day three of the French Olympic trials in Chartres.
Grousset split 22.96/24.69 to go fourth in the 2024 rankings behind Pan Zhanle and his world record of 46.80, Canadian Josh Liendo (47.55) and Rio 2016 Olympic champion Kyle Chalmers (47.63).
It was the sixth-fastest time of the 2022 world silver medallist’s career, topped by his 47.42 at the 2023 worlds in Fukuoka.
While Grousset has broken the 48 barrier on 14 occasions, Manaudou went inside for just the second time on Wednesday in 47.90.
It was a PB for the four-time Olympic medallist whose previous best stood at 47.98 since the 2014 European Championships in Berlin.
Out in 22.50, Manaudou came back in 25.40 to match the time that former world record-holder David Popovici posted at the 2024 Europeans in Belgrade this morning.
Both men were well inside the Paris QT of 48.57.
Marie Wattel – who has already booked her ticket to a home Games in the 100 fly – leads the women’s 100 free in 54.31, 0.04 ahead of Charlotte Bonnet (54.35).