Antoine Viquerat in the semi-finals of the 50m breaststroke at the World Championships, Pierre Goudeneche disqualified, David Aubry eliminated in the 800m

It was a strange morning this Tuesday, with some small performances and a few surprises. In the opening 50m breaststroke, Italy's Simone Cerasuolo dominated his field (26''42), while the 2023 world champion, China's Qin Haiyang, limited the damage by qualifying for the semi-finals with the 11th time (26''98).

“I was completely confused, I have no explanation, I’m disgusted.”

"I felt good in the water. I'm happy," said the 26-year-old swimmer, who has held the French record for the distance since June (27''02) . "The goal is the final now. It's going to come down to a few details. I have to watch the video, but I'm not a big fan of my swim restart. Afterwards, in the swim, it was a bit rushed at the beginning."

Details that David Aubry will not be looking for, eliminated in the 800m (7'54''83, 16th time), very far behind the Tunisian Ahmed Jaouadi (7'41''58). "I was completely in the cabbage, I have no explanation, I'm disgusted," sighed the Frenchman, world bronze medalist over the distance in 2019. 7'54''... Wow! I felt really bad, technically it was shit, I wasn't taking any water. The turns were killing me, clearly. I can't do it, I have no juice, I can't accelerate. I was useless all the way." On Saturday, the Frenchman hopes to find some resources to get out of the 1,500m series, he who was world medalist last year in Doha.

In the other races, it should be noted that in the absence of Léon Marchand or the Hungarian Kristof Milak, it was the American Luca Urlando who recorded the best time in the 200m butterfly (1'52''71), while the New Zealander Erika Fairweather, frustrated by her disqualification in the 400m, achieved the fastest time in the 200m (1'56''54), ahead of the American Erin Gemmell (1'56''74) and the Australian Mollie O'Callaghan (1'57''04).

In the evening session, four French women will compete in the final: Anastasiia Kirpichnikova in the 1500m, Mary-Ambre Moluh, Pauline Mahieu and Yohann Ndoye-Brouard in the 100m backstroke.