Maxime Grousset & Marrit Steenbergen at The Double in Paris; Angharad Evans Matches Edinburgh Record-Rattling Pace
Maxime Grousset and Marrit Steenbergen ended the first day of the Giant Open with two titles apiece in Paris.
Angharad Evans continued the form that guided her to within touching distance of her British 100 breast record last week in Edinburgh when she matched that time in the French capital.
Grousset’s start to the year sees him atop the 50 and 100 fly rankings. The Frenchman, who won the fly double at the 2025 worlds in Singapore, flew to 21.78 at last weekend’s Lausanne Cup and on Friday, he put down 22.84, his fourth fastest time of the season.
Maxime Grousset: Photo Courtesy: KMSP/Stéphane Kempinaire
The 100 free was next up and he soon showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels before touching first in 48.02 ahead of Nandor Nemeth (48.57) and Josha Salchow (49.13).
Grousset will take on the 50 free on Saturday, an event in which he won bronze at the 2022 worlds in Budapest. He doffed his cap at Cam McEvoy who broke new ground when he rocketed to a 20.88 WR in the 50 free at the China Open earlier on Friday.
“What Cameron (McEvoy, who broke the 50m freestyle world record in 20.88) did is phenomenal,” he said through the French Federation. “It looks like he’s being pulled by a rubber band. I’ll try to get closer to his time tomorrow, but it’s really amazing!”
However, Grousset wasn’t totally happy with his own 100 free performance when asked about his opening day in Paris.
“It starts well, yes and no,” he mused. “I thought I could win, that’s not the problem, but I thought I would do better in this 100m freestyle final. At least swimming under 48 seconds was the goal, and that wasn’t achieved today.
“Considering everything I have gone through these past weeks, it’s more or less understandable. There are no excuses. I think I was capable of doing it today; maybe I was a bit disconnected or tired from my previous final, but I could have swum under 48 seconds.”
Steenbergen Sets Sights High
The 50 free was up first for Steenbergen who led home Milou van Wijk in 24.56 to 24.64 for a Netherlands 1-2. Beryl Gastaldello joined them on the podium in 24.74 with 0.18 separating the first three women home.
Marrit Steenbergen: Photo Courtesy: Andrea Masini / Deepbluemedia / Insidefoto
She returned at the end of the session for the 200 free where she led with Panna Ugrai for company. The 2022 European champion enjoyed a clear win in 1:57.76 with Freya Anderson making up a 0.57 deficit at the final turn to come past Ugrai in 1:58.91 to 1:58.98.
“I feel really good,” she told the French Federation after concluding her double. “I’m very happy with my times today, especially since I didn’t really know what to expect. It’s very good, so I think the pool is very fast.
“I hope I can achieve the same performances in Paris as in Lublin last December (eight medals and five European records). If I get close to what I did there, I could have a great summer. I’ll see how the season goes and make choices about my races. I’m not quite sure what the schedule looks like yet, but the 100m freestyle will definitely be on that list.”
Evans Rattles British Record; Matches Edinburgh Pace
Evans split 31.29/34.08 en-route to 1:05.46 her 100 breast rankings topper at the Edinburgh International last weekend.
The Briton was out much faster in 31.07 – 0.02 inside her British record split – before falling off record pace in 34.39 to stop the clock once more at 1:05.46.
It was 0.09 off the national standard of 1:05.37 set at the British Championships in London last April and the joint second fastest in domestic waters.
Evans is the only British woman to crack 1:06 which she’s now done on seven occasions and she owns the two fastest times of 2026. Ellie McCartney (1:07.46) and Nika Godun (1:07.65) joined her on the podium.
Sandro Henras-Maarouf edged Apostolos Siskos by the narrowest of margins in the 200 fly by 1:57.65 to 1:57.66 ahead of Richard Marton (1:57.79) with Duncan Scott fourth in 1:59.27.
- Rami Rahmouni won the men’s 400 free in 3:47.68 ahead of Dimitrios Markos (3:47,71).
- Mary-Sophie Harvey continued her Lausanne Cup form with a 4:34.37 win in the 400IM
- Katie Shanahan won the 200 back in 2:09.65
- Apostolos Christou headed the men’s 50 back in 24.89
- Lucas Matzerath edged the 200 breast by 0.02 in 2:11.57
- Artemis Vasilaki headed the women’s 800 free in 8:32.29
