Member of the 4x100m medley relay, Maxime Grousset delivered a great performance this Sunday during the Short Course Swimming World Championships. The Frenchman has quite simply become the fastest swimmer in history in the 100m freestyle but has not yet become the new record holder.
The performance almost went unnoticed in the flood of world records (30) broken in Budapest at the short course world championships, but a Frenchman beat the best performance in history in the 100m nl, in relay.
Vice-world champion in the 100m butterfly at the short course World Championships in Budapest, Maxime Grousset failed to return from his Hungarian stay with an additional medal. Aligned in the 4x100m medley, he was unable to prevent the Blues' seventh place in the final. But Maxime Grousset created a moment of history by completing his four lengths of 25m in just 44″51.
It's simple, the Frenchman became the fastest swimmer over the distance in what was also the fastest 100m relay in history. The Caledonian swimmer finished two hundredths faster than the American Jack Alexy, world champion in the 100m, who recorded a time of 44.53.
No world record for Grousset
Despite his great time, Maxime Grousset will not yet be the world record holder in the 100m nl in short course. And for good reason, in a relay, only the first torchbearer can request the approval of a world record because he is the only one to start under the same conditions as in an individual event. The takeover allows you to start faster than a classic standing start.
During this final of the 4x100m medley relay, Maxime Grousset started as the last relay runner and cannot therefore claim to seize the record established by the Australian Kyle Chalmers (44″84) in 2021.
The Blues far from the podium with an experimental relay
No record and no medal either for the tricolor relay during this final. Without the stars Léon Marchand and Florent Manaudou, bronze medalists on this relay at the Paris Games, and without a real runner, the composition of this relay was a little experimental. With Olympic medalists Yohann Ndoye Brouard on his back, Clément Secchi on the butterfly and Maxime Grousset in crawl, Roman Fuchs, specialist in the 200m nl and 400m nl, agreed to help out on the breaststroke course.
But the Blues were very far from the fight for the podium at the start of the last relay. Maxime Grousset therefore launched into the turmoil and with the sole challenge of avoiding last place in the final. Mission accomplished for the world vice-champion in the 100m butterfly who took the opportunity to become the fastest man in the history of the 100m nl in short course. A superb performance, even without the record.
