Beryl Gastaldello Breaks French Nationals Meet Record in 100 Fly – 57.69

2019 FRENCH ELITE NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS– 50M

• Tuesday 16th to Sunday 21st April 2019
• Prelims from 9.30am; final C from 18:00; final A / B from 18h30
• Host: Brittany Regional Swimming League
• Bréquigny swimming pool, 12 boulevard Albert 1er, RENNES
• 50m
• French qualifying rules for 2019 World Championships
• Start list: available here
• Results: available here

Texas A&M star Béryl Gastaldello had an interesting opening day of the French National Champs. Gastaldello was seeded with a NT (No Time) in prelims, so she had to swim in the first heat, where she posted a 58.46. That time, while under the FINA A cut for World Champs, was off the French qualifying standard by just 0.16 seconds. In France’s qualifying procedures, the qualifying standard must be met in prelims, so that means Gastaldello will not be automatically qualified to swim the 100 fly at Worlds.

In finals, Gastaldello blasted a 57.69 to win the event, rocketing to a new best time. That time not only set a new Championship Record for French Nationals, it also landed Gastaldello 10th in the world rankings this year. Furthermore, Gastaldello’s previous best was 58.02, marking this swim as her first time ever under :58 in the event.

There appears to have been an issue with Gastaldello’s entries for this meet, since she was seeded with a ‘No Time’ in the 100 fly on day 1, and is on the heat sheet for day 2 with a ‘No Time’ in the 100 back. That could prove to be something of a disadvantage to Gastaldello, since that means she’ll be racing in the first heat of her events. The issue with that is the French selection criteria for World Championships requires the qualifying standards to be achieved in prelims. Gastaldello racing in the first heats won’t have the same competition that she would if she were seeded with her real times.

There is still a chance that Gastaldello will end up swimming the 100 fly at World Champs, but two things have to occur in order for that to happen: 1) Gastaldello will need to meet the qualifying standard in one of her prelims races at this meet. That will put her on the Worlds roster. 2) France’s swimming governing body would then have to approve Gastaldello to swim the 100 fly at Worlds. Per the selection criteria, an individually qualified swimmer may choose one “complementary event” to add to their World Champs Schedule. A complementary event must be a race in which the swimmer has the FINA A cut, and the governing body must then decide it is in the team’s interest to have the swimmer add that event.