Reigning world vice-champion in the 100m butterfly, Marie Wattel took sixth place in the Worlds final on Monday in Fukuoka. In the 100m backstroke, Mewen Tomac and Yohann Ndoye Brouard will also compete in the final on Tuesday.
No medal for Marie Wattel (26) at the Fukuoka World Swimming Championships! The French swimmer was in the final of the 100m butterfly, an event where she won the silver medal last year in Budapest, and this time she took sixth place. Qualified in extremis for the final, the Lille native failed to express her talent, her season having been disrupted by back and shoulder injuries. She finished in 57″13, almost a second off her personal best. The tricolor swimmer may have some regrets, because her record at 56″14 would have allowed her to win the silver medal. It may only be a postponement… In the meantime, it is the 25-year-old Chinese Yufei Zhang, reigning Olympic vice-champion, whom Wattel had beaten a year ago, who won the world title, in 56″12, ahead of the 23-year-old Canadian Margaret Macneil (56″45) and the reigning American world champion Torri Huske (20), third in 56″61.
Two Blues in the 100m backstroke final
The semi-finals of the men’s 100m backstroke also took place at the start of the evening session, and the two best French backstrokers qualified for Tuesday’s final, with the fourth and fifth times. Mewen Tomac, born on September 11, 2001, equaled his personal best, which dated from 2021, by swimming 52″86, while Yohann Ndoye Brouard (22), whose year was disrupted by a broken elbow, finished in 53″06. The best time went to the reigning Italian world champion Thomas Ceccon in 52″16.
The first final on the program for this second evening session in Fukuoka was that of the 100m breaststroke, and it was the 24-year-old Chinese Haiyang Qin who triumphed in 57″69 (a new Asian record), thus winning his very first medal in long course, he who had won two world medals in short course in recent years. He beat two swimmers who finished tied in 58″72: the 23-year-old Italian Nicolo Martinenghi (reigning world champion) and the 27-year-old Dutchman Arno Kamminga (silver medalist last year). No bronze medal was therefore awarded. No French had qualified for this final.
