Efimova Destroys Meet Record; Hosszu Doubles on Day 1 of French Open

2017 French Open

• July 1-2, 2017
• Prelims 10h00 ; finals 17h00
• L’Odyssée, Chartres
• 50 meter pool
• Presentation
• Schedule
• Psych sheet
• Results

Be sure to check out our recaps in French on SwimSwam Français. You can find today’s finals recap here.

Day One: Saturday, July 1

In the last tune-up before the 17th FINA World Championships in Budapest, the French Federation is hosting 323 athletes at its 11th French Open in Chartres, just outside of Paris. Nearly 2/3 of the swimmers are international, coming from all over Europe, South America, and Africa.

With 32 events divided into 2 finals sessions, it’s a lot of swimming, although most swimmers are concentrating on only a handful of events. The most prolific of the Europeans, Hungary’s Katinka Hosszu, only competed in three events on Day One. And after scratching the 200 free final, she whittled that number down to two events in finals, both of which she won. Hosszu began with a 2:09.83 in the 200 IM to claim the title with a 1.4-second margin over Yui Ohashi of Japan (2:11.21) and Canada’s Sydney Pickrem (2:11.62). Pickrem overcame a 2-second deficit to touch out Russia’s Yuliya Efimova (2:11.65) over the final meters for her third-place finish. Hosszu finished the night with a 2:08.83 in the 200 back, her best time of the season, which moves her up to #10 in the world for the year. Coming in second was Hilary Caldwell with 2:10.31. Caldwell was 3 seconds faster at Canadian Trials in April, when she went 2.07.29, now the 5th fastest time in the world this year.

The 200 IM was Efimova’s second final of the session. Earlier she had knocked down an 8-year-old French Open record in the 100 breast with 1:05.29. The old mark of 1:06.35 had belonged to Australia’s Leisel Jones since 2009. Efimova won by nearly 2 seconds over Australia’s Jessica Hansen (1:07.09) and by 1.2 over Spain’s Jessica Vall (1:07.48). Efimova owns the current #1 time in the world, 1:04.82, which she swam a Mare Nostrom Canet in June.

Olympic bronze medalist Emma McKeon of Australia overcame France’s Charlotte Bonnet over the last 25 meters to win the 200 free with 1:57.31. Bonnet had gone out very quickly, but was outpaced over the second half by both McKeon and her Australian teammate Madison Wilson. Bonnet hung on for second, though, finishing in 1:57.42 to Wilson’s 1:57.93.

No records fell on the men’s side, but the owner of the meet mark in the 200 breast, Germany’s Marco Koch, turned in a dominant performance to win his signature event in 2:10.36 over Australia’s Lennard Bremer (2:14.16) and Matthew Wilson (2:14.41). Japan’s Kosuke Hagino was another dominant figure on the men’s side; he won the 400 IM in 4:13.73, 4.5 seconds ahead of Switzerland’s Jeremy Desplanches (4:18.28).

Brazil’s Joao Luiz Gomes Junior eked out a narrow victory over Russia’s Andrei Nikolaev in the 50 breast, 27.40 to 27.44. Gomes went 26.83 in May at Maria Lenk Trophy in Rio de Janeiro, which is the second-fastest time in the world so far this year behind Adam Peaty’s 26.48.

France’s Mehdy Metella won the 100 free with 48.46, his third sub-48.5 of the year (after 48.23 at French Trials in May and 48.35 at Golden Tours Amiens in April). Meet record-holder, Australian James Magnusson, had gone 48.85 in prelims during the morning session, but his final was slower. Magnusson wound up third with 49.54 after being overtaken on the back half by runner-up Kacper Majchrzak of Poland (49.39).

Other event winners:

• Women’s 50 free – Anna Santamans, FRA, 24.96
• Women’s 800 free – Mireia Belmonte Garcia, ESP, 8:27.33
• Women’s 50 back – Holly Barratt, AUS, 27.81
• Women’s 100 fly – An Sehyeo, KOR, 58.14
• Men’s 400 free – Filip Zaborowski, POL, 3:51.29
• Men’s 100 back – Ryosuke Irie, JPN, 53.57
• Men’s 50 fly – Andrii Govorov, UKR, 23.30
• Men’s 200 fly – Louis Croenen, BEL, 1:59.34