Roman Fuchs Makes Maiden Voyage Inside 1:47 To Head 200 Prelims At French Champs In Rennes; Marchand Through In Seventh
Roman Fuchs Makes Maiden Voyage Inside 1:47 To Head 200 Prelims At French Champs In Rennes; Marchand Through In Seventh
Roman Fuchs made his first journey inside 1:47 to head the 200 free prelims as Leon Marchand returned to the water after going fourth all-time in the 200 breaststroke at the French Championships in Rennes.
- Rennes Preview
- Leon Marchand Goes Fourth All-Time In 200 Breaststroke With 2:06.59 In Rennes
- Rennes Results
Fuchs went 1:46.70 to head the field into Monday’s final in Rennes a full second ahead of Enzo Tesic (1:47.70) with Wissam-Amazigh Yebba third through in 1:47.72.
Marchand followed up his 2:06.59 sabre-rattler on Sunday night with 1:48.70 for seventh swiftest.
Fuchs became the only Frenchman inside 1:47 this year, eclisping Yebba’s 1:47.08 at the Barcelona stop of the Mare Nostrum tour last month, and dipped under the qualification time of 1:46.79 for the Fukuoka worlds.
It took a chunk off his previous PB of 1:47.20 from last year’s nationals as he became the joint sixth-fastest Frenchman in history, alongside Amaury Leveaux who also went 1:46.70 at the 2012 Olympics.
Yannick Agnel (1:43.14), Jeremy Stravius (1:45.61), Hadrien Salvan (1:46.50), Jordan Pothain (1:46.56) and Gregory Mallet (1:46.69) are the men to have gone quicker in domestic waters.
Yohann Ndoye Brouard – bronze medallist at the last two European Championships – headed the 100 back field in 53.95 ahead of Clement Secchi (54.37) and Mewen Tomac (54.51).
Mary-Ambre Moluh led the way in the women’s 100 back in 1:00.11 ahead of Emma Terebo (1:00.48) and Pauline Mahieu – locked out of the European rostrum last year in Rome by one place – but who was third through in 1:00.50.
Justine Delmas booked lane four in the women’s 200 breaststroke in 2:26.88 ahead of Charlotte Bonnet (2:29.54) and Fantine Lesaffre (2:30.43), the pair having already qualified for the World Championships in the 200IM.
Ines Delacroix headed the first heats of the women’s 1500 in 16:50.74 with the final heat set to conclude Monday evening’s programme in Rennes.
Seven swimmers have so far punched tickets to Fukuoka after one night of finals with the meet set to go through to Friday.