Gold, Gold, Without Laure Manaudou, Who Preferred the Chamalières Pool to that of Mulhouse
Without doubt, perhaps due to fear of being distracted by her new partner, swimmer Benjamin Stasiulis, Laure Manaudou was absent. However, the harvest was plentiful this weekend thanks to the prodigious performances of the rising stars of French swimming, Camille Muffat and Clément Lefert. Muffat dominated by scooping up six medals in the six events she entered. She confirmed her champion status by winning 3 gold medals. An impressive 4 minutes, 17.94 seconds in the 400 meters freestyle! She delivered strong performances in the 200 meters freestyle and 200 meters backstroke. The Nice-based swimmer finished 2nd in the 200 meters breaststroke, behind her eternal rival, Sophie de Ronchi from Massy.
She placed 2nd in the 50 meters butterfly final and finally 3rd in the 50 meters freestyle final.
Clément Lefert Finally Claims Victory
With a gold medal around his neck, Clément Lefert finished this stage of the French Championships, a competition where he is more accustomed to 2nd and 3rd places on the podium, or even honorable mentions. 54.73 seconds for the distance where, in the last French championships, he had finished 3rd behind Antoine Galavtine, the French record holder for the distance, and Amaury Leveaux, licensed in Mulhouse. This time, the podium was the same, but the roles were reversed. The young man from Nice claimed the top spot on the podium with Galavtine taking the 3rd. He won 3 other medals including two silvers in the 400 meters freestyle and the 200 meters individual medley. He finished 3rd in the 50 meters butterfly final. These results are quite encouraging for the swimmers from Nice. A good omen for the Beijing Olympic Games.
