Florent Manaudou, Marie Wattel, Léon Marchand… The French to follow in Budapest

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Ten months after the Tokyo Olympics, the French swimming team is back in the big pool. A total of 21 Blues (14 male swimmers and 7 female swimmers) will take part in the world championships in the Duna Arena in Budapest, from Saturday 18 to 25 June. The workforce is much larger than in previous editions. The tricolor swimmers were 11 in Gwangju (South Korea) in 2019, and only nine in Budapest in 2017.

After the relative failure of the Tokyo Olympics, with only one medal won, French swimming seems to be on the way to reconstruction. It can legitimately aim to go beyond the balance sheet of Gwangju (two bronze medals).

France arrives in Hungary with a team made up of both experienced swimmers and promising youngsters. If some international headliners are missing (the Australians Ariarne Titmus and Emma McKeon, or the Briton Duncan Scott), the Blues will still have a lot to do to get on the podium. Review of the numbers of tricolor medal hopefuls on the banks of the Danube.

Florent Manaudou, the experience asset

Captain of the French team alongside Mélanie Henique, the reigning Olympic vice-champion in the 50-meter freestyle will try in Budapest to get a first medal at the World Championships in the long course since 2015 in Kazan (Russia). The sprinter had then achieved a golden double over 50 meters (freestyle and butterfly) in times which are still his best references.

In Budapest, Florent Manaudou will be aligned during these two events. The American Caeleb Dressel, who beat him to Tokyo, will do the same.

This year, the Frenchman swam at the level of his 2021 times in the 50-meter butterfly, but remained far from his best times in this freestyle distance. At the French championships in early April, the CN Marseille licensee, who now trains in Antibes, had to give up the 50-meter freestyle after being injured while winning the bronze medal in the 50-meter breaststroke.

Marie Wattel, for a first

At 25, Marie Wattel is going to climb on the plots of her third world championships in the long course. Three hundredths off the podium in 2019 in Gwangju in the 50-meter butterfly, the Frenchwoman dreams of winning her first individual medal at world level, a reward that would confirm her steady progress. To prepare for Paris 2024, Marie Wattel left Loughborough (England), where she trained for five years, to join Marseille.

In Budapest, the reigning European champion in the 100 meter butterfly (and silver medalist in the freestyle distance) has concocted a copious program. She will take part in four events: 50 and 100 meters freestyle, as well as 50 and 100 meters butterfly.

Léon Marchand, the great hope

The Léon Marchand-Bob Bowman duo will not fail to attract the cameras. For his debut at Arizona State University, the protege of former coach Michael Phelps made a strong impression by being voted “swimmer of the year”, an award rarely given to a first-year student. The Toulousain notably broke the record for 200 yards medley, previously held by a certain Caeleb Dressel. The 20-year-old swimmer confirmed in San Antonio (Texas), where he validated the minima for the Budapest Worlds by offering himself the French record for the 200 meter medley.

Versatile, the Habs will compete in three events in Budapest: 200 meter butterfly, 200 meter medley and 400 meter medley. On this last distance, Léon Marchand had surprised in Tokyo by touching the wall in sixth position.

Maxime Grousset, the outsider

With his fourth place in Tokyo in a 100 meter freestyle overflown by Caeleb Dressel and the Australian Kyle Chalmers, Maxime Grousset looks like a serious outsider in Budapest. As proof, the 23-year-old New Caledonian is ranked sixth in the world for the best performance of the season over the distance, thanks to his 48″03 achieved at the French championships in Limoges, yet far from his time slammed in Tokyo (47″ 52). In Hungary, the Insep swimmer will also take part in the 50 meter freestyle and the 50 meter butterfly.

Yohann Ndoye Brouard and Mewen Tomac, to take over

With the young Mewen Tomac (20 years old) and Yohann Ndoye Brouard (21 years old), would France hold there the worthy successors of the duo Camille Lacourt-Jérémy Stravius? The backers both had their first cape in the French team in 2019, at the European Short Course Championships in Glasgow (United Kingdom). Three years later, the two will be able to create a surprise if they subtract a handful of tenths from their records.

Licensed to the Dauphins d’Annecy, Yohann Ndoye Brouard has good memories of Budapest, where he won bronze in the 100 meters backstroke at the European Championships in the long pool a year ago. A race that Mewen Tomac had finished in fifth place.


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