Fred Bousquet produced a special 50m Free tonight to win the toughest of all nationals championships in this event...French Nationals. (Apologies to Garrett Weber-Gale, Nathan Adrian, Cullen Jones, Nick Brunelli, Jimmy Feigen etc. you're not far behind).
Bousquet swam away from the chasing pack to finish in 21.71. This is the third fastest textile time ever behind Alex Popov's historic 21.64 from 2000 and Roland Schoeman's 21.69 from 2005. Popov's time is starting to look attainable this year and Bousquet has to be favourite now to do it. Even if he doesn't improve upon this time, 21.71 is a time that should keep Bousquet ranked in the top three in the world at the year's end.
The other French sprint stars didn't disappoint. Fabian Gilot became the second man under 22 seconds this year finishing in 21.97, Alain Bernard was third in 22.08 (also third in the world this year) and Amaury Leveaux was fourth in 22.11. Not to labour the point... but 22.11 took fourth in a national championship final.
We won't need to wait long to see all four men in action again as the 100m Free starts tomorrow with the heats and semis. The final is on Friday.
Camille Lacourt had an excellent swim in the 100m Back final winning in a time of 53.29. The time puts him third in the world this year behind Liam Tancock (52.85) and Matt Grevers (53.05).
'Chapeau' to Dublincat for the clip
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