Aidan Pongrace is an American high school student who just-so-happens to be studying and training abroad for his senior year in Rennes, France, the host of this year’s French National Championships. He is a member of the legendary NCAP team in the Washington D.C. area, and has previously written for the Washington Post’s ‘Reach for the Wall’ swimming website.
The day belonged to one many today: Jeremy Stravius. While the teammates at Olympic Nice Natation, Yannick Agnel and Camille Muffat, posted impressive times in the 100 free, Jeremy Stravius has unequivocally stolen the spotlight at the Championnats de France. The French team is shaping up to be a dangerous squad for Barcelona.
The night began with the semi final of the women’s 200 IM. Sophie de Ronchi easily won heat one with a solid breaststroke leg in 2:18.75, a two second drops from her morning swim. In heat two, it was the Hungarian, Evelyn Verraszto who put on a show for the French ladies. Her 2:12.74 was two seconds under the FINA A standard, if that matters for her, and was over seven seconds ahead of de Ronchi’s 2:17. The time she posted in semis was just outside of a top 10 time this year so look for her to crack that list in finals.
Giacomo Perez Dortona, the champion in the men’s 100 breast, was out to an early lead but faded to third place in his heat. Patrick was first in heat one in a 2:15.07. Heat two featured William Debourges who holds the top time in France this year, a 2:14.22 that he swam back in February in Nancy, France. Like Perez Dortona, he was out to an early lead but never gave it up. Thomas Rabeisin challenged him on the last 50 meters but he held on for the win and top overall seed. He was just off his time from February with a 2:14.71.
Next up was the men’s 100 free semi final and the debut of France’s London MVP, Yannick Agnel. He posted a 49.05 in the morning to qualify for the top seed tonight. The French sprinting prowess was on full display in these semi finals. All eight finalists were under 50 seconds and Yannick Agnel dropped under 49 to finish in 48.70. Looking at the trend, should we expect a 47 tomorrow night? The surprise of this semi final was Amaury Leveaux. His 49.76 placed him fourth in his heat and 7th for the final, barely getting him in at all.
The man, the myth, the legend, Jeremy Stravius notched his first win of the night and second win of the competition in a dominant fashion in the 50 back. Even in prelims he was under 25 and at night he exploded off the start and got his hand to the wall ahead of Camille Lacourt and Florent Manaudou, finishing in a 24.61, which is the top time in the world this year. Florent Manoudou just missed qualifying for Barcelona by a mere 0.2 seconds behind Lacourt’s 24.73.
The women’s 200 fly final had no one close to the FINA A standard of 2:09.38 but proved to be a good example of swimming strategy. Marie Wallet, another swimmer out of Olympic Nice Natation and who is only 16 years old, went out blazing in the first hundred and held a commanding lead at the half. However, the older Lea Giraudon swam a smarter race and won on the back half. Nevertheless, Marie Wallet’s 2:13.27 was the French equivalent of a National Age Group record in the 16-year-old age group.
The women’s 100 back semi final featured Cloe Credville the second place finisher in the 200 back the other night. She holds the top time in France this year and cruised to victory in a 1:02.33. The real excitement from the crowd came from the hometown favorite, Fanny Danet, who swam in Lane 8 of heat 2. From host club, Cercle Paul Bert, the crowd chanted Danet’s name before, during, and after her race.
Less than a half hour after posting the top time in the world this year in the 50 back and one day after being crowned a national champion in the 100 back, Jeremy Stravius was back for another taste of victory in the men’s final of the 200 IM.
An event would appear he has never swum it at a major championship meet, Stravius posted the second best time last night behind Hungarian, David Verraszto. If Stravius was at all fatigued from his 50 back win earlier in the night, he didn’t show it. He took his first 50 out in a 24.61, over 1.2 seconds ahead of Verratszto. By the backstroke leg he was in open water, over a full body length ahead of his competition. Verraszto close slightly in the breaststroke leg but to no avail. This race was Stravius’ from the start.
In what was a new French national record, Stravius’ 1:57.89 is the third fastest time this year, breaking the 1:59.58 set by Fabien Horth at the 2009 version of this meet. For all of the success the French program has had in just about every event, they simply haven’t but together a finalist-level IM’er since Xavier Marchand in the late 90’s. He’s the only swimmer to ever final an an IM race at either the World Championships or the Olympics in the 200 IM (and he did so twice at each meet).
The same time would have placed him 6th in the event in London. Remember, this is an event he has NEVER swum in a championship meet before. The crowd seems to have fallen in love with Jeremy Stravius. During his post race interview they chanted “STRA-VIUS! STRA-VIUS!” Look out world; Jeremy Stravius means business.
The women’s 100 free was an all Olympic Nice Natation affair. Camille Muffat, looking to follow up Stravius’ national record was only 0.02 seconds off of Malia Matella’s suit-era time of 53.49. Her 53.51 puts her 2nd in the world this year so far but we’ll see how that holds up against the American women swimming a the Arena Mesa Grand Prix later tonight. Muffat’s teammates, Charlotte Bonnet and Beryl Gastaldello placed second and third respectively. Both are only eighteen years old.
The final two events held little excitement. The men’s semi final of the 200 fly saw swimmers such as Hugo Tormento and Jordan Coelho drop time from the morning but both are still more than three seconds away from the FINA A standard of 1:57.03. The women’s 100 breast final didn’t even have a single swimmer break the 1:10 barrier.
Someone out there must also’ve noticed how fast the 200IM has been as an event this year. Even the Italians are putting down 158.mids. 157high won bronze in ’11. Wang, Stravius have already been that fast. Hagino is probably going to crush it, and let’s not forget Lochte, Cseh and Clary.
John,. Pereira also said he is focusing his all on this event too..
I would put Locthe Cseh and pereira a little far of the rest.. at least now..
From what Hagino showed us already. I’d be surprised if Hagino doesn’t swim well into the 1:56’s– faster than Pereira was in the Olympics, and better than Cseh has been on an average basis (I only say that because he hasn’t swum really this year, and 1:56.2 is a second and a half faster than he’s been otherwise since the suit era).
That said, with the improvements Clary has made in his events since 2010 (when he was a 157), he should be 156 without problem also
John.. on Olympics Pereira went 1:56 also..
And I think now dropping the 400IM and focusing on training to 100 free fly and back he may drop some time.. considering that his Breaststroke is already pretty good..
Mr Pongrace, don’t be crazy! Keep your calm! You write about Jérémy Stravius : “The man, the myth, the legend”. Wow! A new Michael Phelps in France? Don’t be too excited!!!! He will just play the gold medal in the 50 back and the 100 back and a final in the 200 IM in Barcelona. It’s good but not incredible. I had predicted a time around 1.57.50. He has so good underwaters. Now I would want to see him with a big 200 back around 1.55. I don’t see why he couldn’t. Problem, the 200 back is the same day as the 200 free. And he wants to qualify for the 4X200 free relay. We’ll see on Saturday and on… Read more »
always enjoy your perspective bobo.
The French have some real superstars in that team. The list is pretty long…Lacourte, Stravius, Muffat, Agnel, Manaudou and Bousquet being standouts. However, I’ve noticed a real lack in depth/class in many events. The womens breast was won in 1.10 for example, that’s pretty dire – I thought Britian’s women had problems with that event but jesus, Britain are pretty bad at that event but on times in 2013 alone no French woman would make the final here.
Now – Could anybody help me here. Is this due to a lack of depth generally in French swimming (due to low participation numbers) or is there too much emphasis put on certain events? Coaches in France push swimmers towards Back… Read more »
Nothing new. In many races the level is awful! And especially on the women’s side where only freestyle is competitive. I compared in another article the results at the Italian championships and at the French championships and it’s spectacular. The OVERALL level in Italy is much better than in France. There are fewer stars in Italy but on the other hand there are fewer bad races with bad times. And in Italy they have many promising young talents in almost each stroke. But at the end it’s the medal table which counts and France will destroy Italy in Barcelona thanks to 5 or 6 swimmers.
This might actually be a problem going forwards. Quoting Van Den Hoogenband the French have a very talented generation, but that isn’t to say that their structural foundations are as strong as Australia, Japan, or perhaps even Great Britain. Where in a few Olympiads we could see a drought like we saw with Australia, and the French Federation is wondering where the problem is at.
Even in Men’s backstrokes, theres no one behind Lacourt and Stravius (and Strasiulis).
Does anyone know how easy Yannick looked? I can’t access Eurosport videos in my region :/
I think there are a few small inaccuracies here. For example Yannick’s prelim time was 49.05 and Camille’s 53.51 puts here second behind Cate Campbell not tying for first. Still lovely article 🙂
Splits For Stravius:
24.61 – 29.69 – 35.67 – 27.92
Very impressive fly and free splits but lots of potential work on the back and breast. I would expect him to be able to chop some time off the backstroke given that it’s his best stroke and that he has some fabulous underwaters.
Wait, “STRA-VIUS”? Not STRA-VI-US? I think I’ve been pronouncing his name wrong.
Pronouncing the letter S at the end of words in French depends on the next word, so if you’re just saying his name, it’s most likely pronounced STRAH-VYUH.
That is a very impressive swim, and he has lots of potential and room for improvement.
What???? It’s new???? I’m French and I don’t know this new rule!!!! The pronunciation of his name doesn’t depend of the next word!!!! The pronunciation of a name is always the same whichever the next word!!!! In all languages!!!! It’s Stravius with a S at the end and in his case we pronounce the S. And always!!!! It’s SSSSStraviuSSSSS!!! Jérémy Stravius!!!!
Punctuation!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Stravius is not actually a traditional French name. It comes from when the Roman Empire occupied Gaul (France) and thus does not follow the rules that most French words follow.
Interesting. So, is it a family decision on when to pronounce the S or not when it comes to names? I know in French grammar, pronouncing the S at the end of words generally doesn’t happen unless it’s a plural and the next word begins with a vowel (tous ensemble) or a silent letter that leads into a vowel (i.e. Les Halles), but in some French names, the last S isn’t pronounced, for example Albert Camus, Chad le Clos, Michel Serres. So in the last example, Michel Serres (french Philosopher, professor at Stanford), the S at the end of his name isn’t pronounced. Why is it pronounced in Stravius?
Forget the example about Les Halles. But the question about names remains the same.