French Olympic Trials Halted in Middle of Day 5 Prelims

2021 FRENCH ELITE SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

• Tuesday, June 15 – Sunday, June 20, 2021
• Piscine de l’Odyssée, Chartres, France
• Long Course Meters (50M)
• Olympic Selection Event
• French Olympic Qualifying Procedures
• Meet Site (LIVE FFN)
• List of Entrants
• Live Results
• Television rights: beIN SPORTS

UPDATE: A coach of participating athletes confirmed to SwimSwam that the bulkhead broke and could not be held in place. Officials estimated that the break occurred at 9:46 am, just prior to the start of prelims.

Since then, the bulkhead has been locked into place and finals will begin at 6:00 pm. The program has been modified. They will begin with the C finals of the 3 events they ran this morning (women’s 50 fly, men’s 50 fly, and women’s 200 breast), followed by the 3 events that were never held this morning. The men’s 200 back and women’s 100 free will be timed finals with all but the fastest heats swimming in this first session.

Then at 6:34, they will run the finals of the women’s 800 free, the A & B finals of the women’s 50 fly, men’s 50 fly, and women’s 200 breast, and the fastest heats of the men’s 200 back and the women’s 100 free.

The 1500, originally scheduled at the end of today’s prelims session, will be swum tomorrow, as a timed final with all but the fastest heat at the end of prelims tomorrow and the top heat in the finals session.

Modified program for Saturday evening

What is still unclear is if the times from the morning session -indeed, for the last several days?- will count. We have reached out to the French Federation for clarification.

With only three of the six events completed on Saturday morning, the Fédération Française de Natation (FFN) postponed the remaining heats due to a technical problem in the Odyssée Pool in Chartres. In a tweet, the Federation wrote “Owing to a technical problem, the competition is temporarily suspended.”

#EnDirect #Natation #Chartres2021
En raison d’un problème technique, la compétition est temporairement suspendue.

— FFN (@FFNatation) June 19, 2021

Without further explanation from the FFN, it is difficult to know when they will resume the competition. A tweet from Benoit Gilles shows the magnitude of the “technical problem,” as in fact, the bulkhead seems to have disengaged from the pool.

C'est du jamais vu : la session du matin des France de natation est arrêtée car la plage de départ (à gauche) s'est écartée du bord du bassin. Grosse interrogation sur la suite du programme et la validation des séries disputées ce matin. #natation #France #chartres @FFNatation pic.twitter.com/f6qNaS2I8H

— Benoît Gilles (@Benoit_Gilles13) June 19, 2021

The suspension is expected to last until at least 1:00 PM local time.