Grand Ouest National Meeting in Tours: exceptional density

“This is once again a great success. » Patrick Gastou, the president of the Children of Neptune of Tours, could have a smile this Sunday, December 22, the last of the three days of the Grand Ouest national meeting. He is satisfied with this collaboration with the Center League and the inter-region. “We are fortunate to be able to use the facilities in Tours and to have the perspective of previous organizations, to be able to meet the expectations of clubs in a large half of France. Our greatest reward is to be complete and to offer a high level of performance. »

Philippe Rousseau, the president of the Indre-et-Loire committee, had “closely monitoring registrations” and was “also amazed. Within a few hours we had almost 600 swimmers. This meeting is a real success. Between the positioning of the competition in the calendar as the first event in the 50-meter pool, just after the French junior championships and just before the holidays, it's perfect. In addition, the clubs know the quality of the organization and appreciate coming to Touraine. »

Varloteaux – Guay: a shock duo from Tours

In the pool, if Edène Bigot was literally invincible the first two days of competition, it was ultimately her physique which betrayed her at the end of the 50m butterfly, with a slight discomfort. Without taking any additional risk, the Touraine sprinter stopped her competition on Saturday evening, still having won three titles (50m and 100m backstroke and 50m butterfly), and therefore withdrew from the 200m medley and 100m butterfly. this Sunday.

Océane Guay and Camille Varloteaux provided a five-star performance. After winning the 200m freestyle, and winning the silver medal in the 50m and 800m freestyle, Océane Guay finished with the most beautiful metal in the 100m freestyle (57″35). And Camille Varloteaux added three A finals (200m medley, 200m breaststroke and 100m butterfly) to his two gold medals won in the 50m and 100m breaststroke.

Messy finals

While with this particularly dense level, some clubs struggled to stand out, the EN Tours did well with a total of twenty-three qualifications in the A final for a total of twelve medals. Elise Queva, triple bronze medalist in the backstroke (50m, 100m and 200m), particularly contributed to this and in the process qualified for the French junior championships at the end of the season, as did Bryony Hayward and Estin Pottier.

For his part, Jules Guérin (CPB Rennes) continued his flawless performance with a perfect performance: four successes in four races (50 m, 100 m and 200 m freestyle and 50 m backstroke). Alexis Kpade (Rouen Vikings) distinguished himself in the back with the 3^e place in the 50 m, before winning the two other distances of the specialty.