2021 French Elite Swimming Championships
- Tuesday, June 15 – Sunday, June 20, 2021
- Chartres, France
- Long Course Meters (50M)
- Olympic Selection Event
- French Olympic Qualifying Procedures
- Meet Site (LIVE FFN)
- List of Entrants
- Live Results
The 2021 French Swimming Championships will take place in Chartres, France from Tuesday, June 15 until Sunday the 20th in Chartres, France. The event will serve as the second of 2 Olympic qualifying opportunities for the country, following the 2020 French Elite Championships which took place in December 2020.
At the first qualifying meet, 4 swimmers were under the qualifying standards set out by France:
- Beryl Gastaldello, women’s 100m free (53.40)
- Florent Manaudou, men’s 50m free (21.73)
- Melanie Henique, women’s 50m free (24.34)
- Marie Wattel, women’s 100m fly (57.40)
France’s qualifying standards for the 2021 Olympic Games are even quicker than the FINA A standards that many countries such as the US use to make their selections.
French Olympic Selection Cuts:
There aren’t too many surprises in the list of entries for the 2021 French Championships and all 27 of those swimmers who were named to the country’s 2021 European Championships roster will be present in Chartres this week.
2021 European Championships medalist Yohann Ndoye Brouard is entered in 6 events at the meet in the form of the 100/200 free and back, 50 back, and 200 IM. He collected bronze 100 back at Euros last month with a 52.97 which was under the 53.34 qualifying time.
Fellow French backstroker Mewen Tomac has also been under the French Olympic cut recently, having hit a 53.10 at the FFN Golden Tour in March. Tomas is entered to swim the 100 back at French Championships along with the 50 and 200 back, the 200 free, and the 200 IM.
Looking for a shot at redemption, French record holder Leon Marchand will make be making a comeback here after leaving the 2021 European Championships early after spraining his finger during a warm-up. As a result, he missed his specialty 400 IM in which he was seeded 11th. Marchand’s current PB in the event is a 4:14.97 French record which is actually not under the French Olympic qualifying time of 4:13.33.
Beryl Gastaldello was named to the French roster for the 2021 European Championships but decided to forgo competing in Budapest in order to stay in the USA for an extra few weeks of training and competing.
She’s entered to race the 50 freestyle, 100 freestyle, 100 backstroke, and 100 butterfly this week. Gastaldello raced both the 100 free and 100 fly at the 2016 Olympics but didn’t make it past the prelims round in either of those events.
Olympian Charlotte Bonnet will be trying to add her name to the French Olympic roster this week and is slated to contest the 50, 100, and 200 freestyle as well as the 100 butterfly. Bonnet swam the 100 free for France in 2012 and then the 100 and 200 in 2016, placing 8th in the 200 at the most recent Games. She recently posted a 1:56.55 for 4th place overall at the 2021 European Championships which was just under the 1:56.63 selection cut.
With too many names to mention, the meet will also feature Olympic qualified Florent Manaudou, Marie Wattel, Melanie Henique, and Marc-Antoine Olivier, 2016 Olympians Damien Joly, Mehdy Metella, Lara Grangeon, and many more.