World Swimming Championships: France in the final of the mixed 4x100m freestyle, Maxime Grousset is ready
By posting the second fastest time in the series this Saturday morning in Singapore, the Blues have secured their ticket to the final, where they will receive a significant reinforcement.
It's shaping up to be a busy, and potentially very good, evening this Saturday for Maxime Grousset. Indeed, the 50m butterfly world champion will have two finals on his schedule, about fifty minutes apart. Having qualified the day before for the 100m butterfly (1:40 p.m.), a distance where he's clearly aiming for the title, as he did two years ago in Fukuoka, the 26-year-old Caledonian will also have a chance at a medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay (2:39 p.m.). Without having taken part in the heats this morning, Grousset had the pleasure of seeing his teammates set the second-fastest time in 3:24.21, far behind the United States, who were seemingly untouchable for gold (3:21.48).
However, things looked bleak after Rafael Fente-Damers' first relay, finishing only 5th. "It was tough. I was tired because of a doping control last night that kept me out until 1:30 in the morning. But we shouldn't make excuses," said the 18-year-old swimmer, who was promised to give up his place to Grousset for the final. But in the process, Yann Le Goff took charge of putting the French ship back on track. Before the women's team brought France safely to port, as the last relay runner, Marie Wattel, had hoped: "We knew the boys were a little tired with the 4x200m relay yesterday, while Albane and I were fresher. We told ourselves we were going to do the job, and we're proud to have done it. In this final, there's definitely something to try with our best team." I have confidence in what we can do together."
Skip the adWe are not disgusting compared to others.
Yann Le Goff
A final that the Blues will tackle in one of the two central lanes, which is always better than lane 8, as Léon Marchand lamented Friday evening after the men's 4x200m relay finished in 6th place. "We will be well placed tonight, that will be a good thing," confirmed Le Goff. "Everyone did the work and, believe it or not, we are not bad compared to the others." And for Albane Cachot, 18, the opportunity will be great to continue his apprenticeship at the very highest level: "I really enjoyed swimming this morning. In addition, it was my fourth relay at these World Championships and I didn't think I would swim so much in this competition. This allows me to gain experience and improve things with each 100m."
lefigaro
