French gold medal in mixed relay 4 × 100 m freestyle; Marie Wattel in silver in the 100m butterfly

France was crowned European swimming champion in the mixed 4 × 100 m freestyle relay on Monday August 15, in Rome.

The French relay, made up of Maxime Grousset, Charles Rihoux, Charlotte Bonnet and Marie Wattel, won with a time of 3 min 22 sec 80, ahead of Great Britain (3 min 23 sec 30) and Sweden (3 min 23sec 40).

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Second medal of the day for Wattel

At the 2^e place after the third stint, provided by Charlotte Bonnet, seven hundredths behind the Italians and the Swedes, the French team was able to count on the thundering stint of Marie Wattel to take orders. The latter, who also won the silver medal in the 100m butterfly on Monday, completed a final high-level length to allow the mixed relay to be crowned. The 25-year-old Frenchwoman, like Charlotte Bonnet, has already won the gold medal in this discipline at the Glasgow Euro in 2018.

Maxime Grousset, who had launched the Blues perfectly by positioning them in the lead, won his second medal after silver in the 50m butterfly.

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Monday morning, the Blues, led by Hadrien Salvan, Charles Rihoux, Lucile Tessariol and Béryl Gastaldello, swam the best time in the semi-finals in 3 min 26 sec 19.

France competed in this event without Florent Manaudou, Olympic champion in the 50m in London in 2012, nor the phenomenon Léon Marchand, 20, double world champion in the 200m medley and 400m medley in Budapest in June, or even without the sprinter Mélanie Hénique.

The World with AFP