The Vortex, May 2025: Harvey High Five Includes Fourth Career Best At Giant Paris Open
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Monday, May 12
In 2:09.44 over 200m medley, Canada's Mary-Sophie Harvey added a fifth win and fourth career personal best effort to her progress in the pool as the Giant Paris Open drew to a close at the city's Olympic Aquatics Centre (Métropole) today.
The time shaved 0.13 off her previous high bar, set a year ago at Olympic trials, after Harvey won the 400m medley, the 400m free and the 200m breaststroke all in best times, her victory in the 200m free on day 1 also not far off her career high.
Speaking through the French federation, Harvey said:
“I’m extremely happy. Last year I also won this title and I enjoyed this competition. It was important to come back and put in some good performances. The conditions were perfect and I couldn’t have dreamed of anything better four weeks before our World Championships in Singapore. I didn’t expect to improve my best times in four of my five races. I felt like I was 15 years old, when I was improving my times with each race. It’s good for morale. I loved swimming in this pool. I love coming to swim in France, there’s always a great atmosphere. The facilities are ideal and it’s a very nice complex to host a competition like this.”
In other last-day action, France's Yohann Ndoye Brouard made it a 50-100 back double when he topped the three-and-back final in 53.39; and Beryl Gastaldello topped the women's equivalent in 59.70 ahead of Dutch visitor Maaike de Waard's 1:00.83, her teammate Marrit Steenbergen third in 1:01.02. On Friday, Steenbergen took the 100m free in a 52.98 that marked her tenth career sub-53 (see report below).
Maxime Grousset is building speed for the summer season World Championships in Singapore come late July. He added the 200 'fly win to his 100 free victory with a dominant 51.23 effort.
Olympic 1500m silver medallist for France at Paris 2024, Anastasia Kirpichnikova completed the distance double with a 16:22.05 win in her signature event ahead of Anna Egorova (16:48.77). Kirpichnikova topped the 800m earlier in the meet and finished second in the 400m behind Harvey.
Other winners in the concluding session included Tunisian Rani Rahmouni, on 15:05.43 in the 1500m free, and American Michael Andrew, on 27.35 in the 50m breaststroke.
Wantenaar's Breakthrough
Meanwhile, you don't often hear of Namibian swimmers but in Paris Ronan Wantenaar, on a swimming scholarship from World Aquatics in Antibes, France, made a significant breakthrough when he won the 100m breaststroke as an outside smoker in a national record of 1:00.53, wiping a second off his previous best of 1:01.35.
Wantenaar just managed to qualify for the A final after posting the eighth fastest heats time with a 1:02.58. In the final, he turned third just behind Bernhard Reitshammer, of Austria, and Antoine Viquerat, of France.
The Namibian got past both on the way home, Reitshammer second in 1:01.07, Viquerat third in 1:01.20.
All of which followed Friday's record from Wantenaar in the 200m. After a 2:17.54 in heats, he finished fifth in the final, his 2:15.27 taking 0.25sec off the national standard he set at the African Games in Ghana last year.
Wantenaar told The Namibian:
“It was quite a bit of a challenge as I was in Lane 8, so I couldn’t see the other swimmers with the result that I had to pace myself and swim my own race. But I felt really good and am happy with my performance – this year I am aiming to go below one minute in the 100m breastsroke."
On the 200m, he recognised there was a bigger stop to take: “I feel that my performance was lacking in some areas, and there’s definitely work to be done to improve my 200m time."
Also in the May Vortex:
- Underpinning Parental Pride In Sean McCann's Progress in the Pool
- Marrit Steenbergen Sails Under 53 For Tenth Time For Giant Win In Paris
- Cameron McEvoy Sets Sights Cielo's 20.9 WR & Sees "No Reason" To Rule Out Brisbane 2032 At 39
- Mary-Sophie Harvey & Marrit Steenbergen At The Double in Paris
- Scotland's Never Too Late campaign sees 152% increase in adult swimming programmes
- Coach Matteo Giunta Defends Federica Pellegrini On "Zero Tolerance" Stance In Sinner Doping Case
- Great Britain Selects 20 For European U23 Championships
- ASU Boss Says College Sports Revenue-Share Announcement Close
- Jordan Crooks Takes A Break From Racing
- Gary Hall Jr's Medals Back From The Flames
- Jon Rudd's Time In Ireland Is Done As He Heads Off To Lead Saudi Performance Program
- Lukas Märtens Makes It 200-400 Double With 1:44.25 Victory At German Nationals
- Gretchen Walsh Joins Sjöstrom In Club Of Sub-25 'Fly Dashers; Irish & Danish Marks For Ellen Walshe & Tomas Koski
- Katie Ledecky Sweeps To Her 2nd Career Fastest 400 Free - 3:56.8
IN OTHER COVERAGE:
May 12:
Craig Lord
May 9:
Craig Lord
May 4:
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
Craig Lord
