Maxime Grousset, a promising silver medal in the world championships.
Maxime Grousset, a swimmer supported by the Caisse d'Epargne Ile-de-France and the Banque de Nouvelle Calédonie, put up a fine performance at the 2022 World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, winning two medals and, above all, making progress in his swimming technique that smooths the way to Paris 2024!
A performance that left its mark
With two years to go before the Olympic Games, each competition now offers the champions an opportunity to assert their positions in the rankings and to make their mark in their respective disciplines. After winning a fine silver medal at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships in Budapest in June earlier this year, this was the second time that Maxime Grousset left his mark on his discipline. In the distant antipodal waters of the World Short Course Championships in Melbourne, he demonstrated that he was on a perfect trajectory leading up to Paris 2024. He won the mixed 4 x 50m freestyle relay and set a new world record in the process. Then, in the individual part of the competition, he suffered a questionable disqualification in the 100m 4-stroke medley event before reversing the situation and going for a magnificent silver medal in the 100m freestyle with an improvement in his personal best with a time of 45.41, just behind the world record holder in the discipline, the Australian Kyle Chalmers (45.16). This represents a remarkable performance for the swimmer from New Caledonia who finds it more difficult to display his full talents in these small-pool events. Indeed, this discipline typically puts him at a disadvantage vis-à-vis his opponents owing to the large number of turns in the race as the swimmers approach the sides of the pools, turn and kick back off again. But it was precisely because he needed to make progress in this aspect of his technique that Maxime Grousset came to Australia to validate the hard work he has done in this area.
Work that has paid off
With his coach Michel Chrétien away from prying eyes in the INSEP Olympic and Paralympic training center in the Bois de Vincennes east of Paris, the two men worked hard to eliminate the difficulties encountered by the world vice-champion (long course) when making turns in the pool. We already had a glimpse of this progress during the French Short Course Championships staged in Chartres last November where Maxime achieved the world’s 2nd fastest performance of the season in the 100m freestyle with a time of 45.61.
It seems that he is now much less apprehensive when approaching the wall and making his turn and that he is more efficient when kicking off and swimming away again. This was clear in the 200m event where he clocked up a personal best (1.41.56) even though he finished the race tired and in 6th place.
It is essential for a swimmer to master this decisive moment in the race that can make all the difference between winning and losing. And it was a necessary step if he’s aiming to win a medal at the Olympic Games in two years’ time. The silver medal won in Australia in the short-course events confirms his progress and will certainly further boost the confidence of Michel Chrétien's protégé… and stiffen his determination to continue working hard to further improve his technique in this area.