2023 FRENCH CHAMPIONSHIPS (25M)
- Thursday, October 26th – Sunday, October 29th
- Angers, France
- SCM (25m)
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Live Results
Coming off a standout summer that included winning the long course world title in the men’s 100 fly, Maxime Grousset has shown no sign of slowing down as he rocketed to a new National Record on the opening night of the French Short Course Championships in Angers on Thursday.
Grousset blasted his way to a time of 49.24 in the men’s 100 fly, breaking Mehdy Metella‘s previous French Record of 49.45 set in 2018.
The 24-year-old Grousset is an explosive swimmer with dynamic underwaters, so it was really only a matter of time until he took hold of this record after what he did in the long course pool in July. At the World Championships in Fukuoka, he was the surprise champion in the 100 fly in a time of 50.14, having broken 51 seconds for the first time just one month prior.
At the end of the competition, Grousset dropped a stunning 49.27 butterfly split on the French medley relay, which ranks as the 2nd-fastest in history.
Having only raced the SCM 100 fly a handful of times over his career, Grousset broke 52 seconds for the first time in the event earlier this month (50.19) before going sub-50 on Thursday.
Metella, a 31-year-old who has an impressive resume that includes an Olympic silver medal and a combined eight medals between the LC and SC World Championships, saw his record go down first-hand as he was in the field, touching 2nd in a time of 50.43.
Although it’s a far cry from his best time, it still marks Metella’s fastest swim since 2018.
When he set that PB and former French Record of 49.45, Metella finished 4th at the 2018 World Championships in Hangzhou, two-tenths shy of a medal.
Split Comparison
| Metella, 2018 | Grousset, 2023 |
| 23.02 | 22.91 |
| 49.45 (26.43) | 49.24 (26.33) |
Grousset now ranks 16th all-time in the event.
The New Caledonia native also won a pair of individual bronze medals at the 2023 World Championships in the men’s 50 and 100 free, giving him a total of six at LC Worlds after claiming a relay bronze in 2019 and then picking up silver in the 100 free and bronze in the 50 free in 2022.
At the 2022 Short Course World Championships in Melbourne, he didn’t race the 100 fly but did throw down a blistering 21.90 fly split on the French 200 medley relay while also earning silver individually in the 100 free.
Full 1.5 seconds back from Dressel’s WR. Really shows what a GOAT Caeleb is SC. And Dressel has been faster than this on a relay LC. 100 fly GOAT for sure, Caeleb Dressel is this man’s daddy.
Dressel is coming for you
pretty sure everyone thought it was lcm at first lol
Instagram headline still hides the (scm) so I tripped big time for a moment
Does he train in New Caledonia? What an amazing talent coming so far from France (the european territory)
I believe there is a National Training Center next to Paris where many swimmers, including Grousset, train.
One of the co-favorites for Gold in Paris for sure (even if Milak returns and as long as Dressel isn’t at his 2021 levels)
Maybe but based on what we seen this month and has like eight months away , I think Dressel probably gonna be on form maybe not like 2021 but fast enough to be the favorites and go sub 50.
Grousset definitely has a 49.8 in him. Even peak Dressel would have to sweat that
He could go sub 50 because he did 49:2 on the medley relay this year and in order for him to win Dressel or Milak needs to really underperform next year or not qualify for the Olympics.
not lisa undermining the prospects and achievements of non-american swimmers.
a 49.8 is not underperforming, even for dressel. he’s 27 now, so you can’t expect him to do PBs all the time
I don’t think I said 49.8 is underperforming and Dressel doesn’t need to go his PB aka his world record as he only needs to go sub 50 which he can unlike Grousset and which is why Grousset can become a favorite for gold if both Milak and Dressel do not qualify or they underperform at Olympics next year as I don’t see he beats both Milak and Dressel in a race.
Tencor said that grousset could go 49.8 next year. if he reaches that, dressel and milak could go 49.8 and still lose. since 49.8 is a great time, they don’t need to underperform to lose.
milak is out of shape and lacks motivation, so there is a real chance he won’t step up next year, and its much more likely than you are implying. even in his peak, milak has only beaten grousset’s best time once, and it’s only 0.12 faster than 49.8.
you say that peak dressel could easily go sub 50, but dressel is 27 now. he had a great olympics, but he only did 1 pb. that was 2 years ago. history has shown that dressel most… Read more »
By history you mean this year cause the reason Dressel is slower at the trial this year is because he just been training for two months after been out of the pool for a while and he said in the interview two months ago that he do not want a repeat of what what happens at the trial and that’s why I believe he’s gonna be at his best next year and a sprinter usually is faster even when they get older so I don’t understand what you mean by history cause look at McEvoy and Sjostrom and I doubt he’s gonna be slow at 27.
I don’t doubt Grousset ability to go sub 50 but It seems like you’re… Read more »
I don’t know what you’re saying cause peak Dressel easily can go sub 50 as he did two year ago at Olympics trial with 49.7 and he did the same at the 100 fly semis at Olympics with almost the same time before he broke the world record in final beating Milak .
Y’all knew what you were doing with the (SCM) placement
It would be clickbait otherwise.
ah…it’s IN the headline, and it has ( ) to bring your attention to scm.
Thought this was LCM for a second and almost had a heart attack
I thought so to, but then looked at the number of comments on the article (4), and thought yep this must be bathtub swimming
They should change (scm) in the title to (bathtub)
…my favorite comment (today). So behind using “bathtub” for scm.
And what would be SCY teacup ?
Lol this made me giggle.
LCM= Pool
SCM= Bathtub
SCY= Teacup
What about kids learn to swim pools that are like 12m? Shot glass? Thimble?