Youth Swimmers Shine at French Swimming Championships in Dunkerque

The recent French Swimming Championships held in Dunkerque from December 18 to 20 showcased outstanding performances from young swimmers across France. Among the highlights was 12-year-old Lætitia Magnien from ASPTT Toulon, who was crowned the French benjamin champion by winning gold in the 50m backstroke and silver in the 100m backstroke. Her clubmates Clémence Dehon (13) and Simon Saulnier Guilbert (12) also delivered notable performances. Dehon finished 9th in the 100m breaststroke, earning qualification for the junior championships, while Saulnier Guilbert placed 23rd in the 50m breaststroke. Their coach, Violaine Ostermann, praised the swimmers for their improvements, attributing it to reforms in training and talent identification implemented over the last three years.

Meanwhile, Louka Gil from Alès dominated the boys' backstroke events by winning all three distances—50m, 100m, and 200m—for the second consecutive year. Demonstrating versatility, Gil also achieved strong finishes in freestyle events, ranking 5th in the 100m, 6th in the 50m, and 8th in the 200m. Other Alès swimmers Darril Santo and Météhan Kiper competed in butterfly events, finishing 24th and 28th respectively. In freestyle, Elena Vincent secured the best local result with an 11th place finish in the 50m.

Additionally, the Var region women's team participated in the Coupe de France finals, finishing 11th after qualifying 16th. These events underline the depth of emerging swimming talent in French youth categories, setting a promising outlook for national swimming.