Frenchman Maxime Grousset, reigning vice-world champion, narrowly qualified for the 100m freestyle final in Fukuoka, Japan on Wednesday. Grousset finished 7th in the semi-finals in 47 seconds and 87/100th, however sufficient to reach the final which will take place on Thursday. “What’s good is that it’s going, so much the better!”, Estimated the native of Noumea, 24 years old. “The race was tough. I start quite well but I crack at the end. I will have to channel my energy and leave more relaxed.
“I do an average race which is not at podium level. I’ll see what to do for the future,” added the Frenchman, who only missed six hundredths to win the final last year. Grousset has already obtained a medal in these Japanese Worlds, bronze in the 50m butterfly, a third place that tastes unfinished.
For his part, the Romanian prodigy David Popovici, who missed his 200m freestyle final the day before by finishing 4th, also qualified for the final with the fifth time. It was the new world champion in the 200m freestyle, the Briton Matthew Richards, who dominated the semi-finals (47 sec 47/100e).