As the far-and-away star of an otherwise secondary French squad at this weekend’s European Short Course Championships in Israel, Frenchwoman Lara Grangeon has twice broken the French National Record in the 400 SCM Individual Medley on Wednesday en route to a bronze medal.
The 24-year old Grangeon swam a 4:29.14 in prelims, and then lowered that to a 4:27.31 in finals for the new record. Both swims lowered the record of the late Camille Muffat, who swam 4:30.65 in 2008 before becoming better known as a freestyler later in her career.
Comparative Splits:
| Muffat (old record) | Grangeon (prelims) | Grangeon (finals) | |
| Fly | 1:02.69 | 1:01.59 | 1:01.06 |
| Back | 1:09.14 | 1:09.12 | 1:08.38 |
| Breast | 1:16.68 | 1:15.60 | 1:15.54 |
| Free | 1:02.41 | 1:02.83 | 1:02.33 |
| TOTAL | 4:30.65 | 4:29.31 | 4:27.31 |
What’s not shown in the splits above, and might be most remarkable, is Grangeon’s “going faster by slowing down.” In her previous personal best, a 4:30.93 from 2010, Grangeon was faster on the backstroke leg, but by slowing down a touch there, she’s seen huge gains in her breaststroke – to the tune of three seconds over the course of 100 meters.
Grangeon, who hails from the French overseas territory of New Caledonia, won bronze medals in the 200 and 400 IM’s at the 2010 European Short Course Championships as well.
Congrats Lara.
Keep up the good work for Rio.
An olympic final is possible.