A small cold shower. Florent Manaudou is hardly used to seeing the number 5 alongside his surname in the middle of a notice board. Or before the race, to designate his water line ... The Olympic champion in the 50 m freestyle in London, however had to be content with a modest 5th place in his favorite event, this Sunday evening, on the last day of the European Championships in Budapest (Hungary). In the basin of the Duna Arena, which he had already attended for the ISL in November 2020, the leader of the tricolor swimming ended his week in 21′'81, far from the 21′'67 achieved the day before in semi final.
“I thought I had a decent race, that I had worked on what I had to work on.
Maybe by putting a little more, I get through it a bit, wondered the sprinter of CN Marseille when leaving Hungary.
There is only fifteen hundredths of a difference
(Editor's note: 14)
with yesterday,
but it's a shame all the same.
A 50 m, you can feel it.
But between the time that I felt and the time that I did, there is a big difference.
"
🏊🇫🇷 Disappointment for Florent Manaudou, 5th in the 50m freestyle final!
In 21 "81, he finished two tenths behind European champion Ari-Pekka Liukkonen. Maxime Grousset finished 7th # Budapest2021 # Swimming
Follow the European Championships live ▶ https://t.co/5Zw5Q3SsIL pic.twitter. com / v9l586Raa0
- France tv sport (@francetvsport) May 23, 2021
Two months before the Olympics, the lights are not green.
But is it necessary for all that to sound the alarm bell?
The former handball player does not reveal any real concern.
“In the year of Rio, I swim 21′'73 at the European Championships
(Editor's note: end of May in London)
.
It doesn't mean anything, these are one-day races, we'll see at the end of it.
I will give all I can give, ”he blurted out.
In 2016, Manaudou then signed 21′'41 in the carioca pool… And lost the gold of the rings for a small hundredth against the American ghost Ervin.
Since his return to competition in June 2019, after thirty months of aquatic eclipse, the best time of Julien Jacquier's protégé remains 21''56 successful in Luxembourg in January 2020, before the world plunges into the Covid-19 pandemic .
The Marseillais still has four competitions in a month, including the French Championships (June 15 to 20 in Chartres) and a dozen races to arrive fully ready in Japan. Aware of the always random nature of his discipline and of a more than formidable American opponent named Caeleb Dressel.
