Maxime Grousset and Marrit Steenbergen are among the swimmers taking to the water as the pool programme begins at the European Championships in Paris.
Grousset is among a high-quality field in the men’s 50 fly while Steenbergen heads the 100 free field, weeks after setting a world record of 51.68 at the Sette Colli meet in Rome.
The prelims were scheduled to begin with Leon Marchand’s quest for a maiden European title in the 400IM but the four-time Olympic champion has dropped the IM events following injury and restricted his programme to the 200 fly and 400 free.
Men’s 400m Individual Medley
Marchand opened his programme at the national championships in Saint-Etienne at the end of June with a 4:04.56 400IM, the fifth-fastest performance in history and fourth among his own pantheon.
However, he felt a sharp pain in his right adductor muscle in the 200m breaststroke prelims which led to him withdrawing from the meet.
He was entered in four events – including the IM double – but restricted his programme to the 200 fly and 400 free after aggravating the injury.
However, the show must go on and the home crowd must wait until they see their hero who entered sporting immortality at La Defense Arena.
There were three prelims with the first three men home in the first seeded heat separated by just 0.24 led by Finn Hammer of Germany (4:13.45), Alberto Razzetti (4:13.54) and Max Litchfield (4:13.69). Robert-Andrei Badea was disqualified for using an alternating leg kick rather than a dolphin kick after finishing fourth in a time that would have seen him progress to the final. The Romanian – who turns 19 next month – won the title at two straight European junior championships in 2024/25.
Ilia Borodin took control on the breaststroke leg of the final prelim and pulled away to touch clear in 4:13.10, the only man to break 4:14 in his race.
