Last weekend, Dunkirk hosted the French Junior Swimming Championships, bringing together 766 swimmers from all over France. Among the qualifiers, three young talents from Montauban Natation 82 proudly represented their club: Sasha Gosset-Madeux, Léon David and Liam Gauzi.
Supervised by their coach Clément Girardi, these swimmers took the road to Dunkirk on Wednesday December 11, ready to measure themselves against the best in their category during this competition which took place from Thursday December 12 to Saturday December 14.
Sasha Gosset-Madeux qualified for the 50m butterfly, 100m butterfly, 100m backstroke, 200m medley, Léon David for the 100m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 100m backstroke, 200m backstroke, 100m swim freestyle and Liam Gauzi for the 200m breaststroke.
For these three swimmers, participating in these championships represented a first experience at this national level, allowing them to confront the best French talents in a large pool. It was a crucial step in their sporting journey. Although not all of the youngest participants managed to qualify, several of them came close to the required times, testifying to the promising potential of this group.
The objective set for this youngest team, namely to excel in all strokes, was achieved, as evidenced by the performances of Sasha, qualified in four events and three different strokes (backstroke, butterfly, 4 strokes) and of Léon, who shone in five events and three swims (butterfly, backstroke and crawl).
In individual performances, we will remember:
-Sasha who beat her personal best in the 100m butterfly (1’09”26) and finished 12th and in the 100m backstroke in 1’13”64 and 22nd in the ranking.
-Léon who sets a Tarn-et-Garonne record for 12-year-olds in the 100m backstroke: 1’16″84 and finishes 10th as well as 12th in the 100m freestyle in 1’07″68.
-Liam achieved a great performance in the 200m breaststroke: 3’10″39, finishing 19th in his category.
An intense end of the year for Montauban Natation
After these French championships, Montauban Natation does not intend to relax its efforts. On December 21 and 22, a large delegation will travel to Cahors for an interdepartmental competition led by Sébastien Todesco. At the same time, Clément Girardi will accompany seven junior swimmers to Chamalières for a national meeting, some of them aiming to qualify for the French Elite championships. Another part of the junior group will also participate in the Occitanie regional meeting in Nîmes, under the supervision of Dylan Daligand.
This end of December therefore promises to be busy for Montauban Natation 82: a real sign of the dynamism and commitment of the club.
