World Championships, Day 2 Finals: Maxime Grousset Overtakes Noè Ponti By Three Hundredths in 50 Fly
The short course butterfly star from last winter seemed to have the jump on his first long course world title. Noè Ponti had the lead throughout the 50 fly final, but Maxime Grousset was stalking close behind. Ponti’s tempo remained the class of the field, but Grousset had distinguished himself from the remainder of the field with 15 meters remining. The powerful Frenchman cut into Ponti’s lead with every stroke.
At the finish, Ponti appeared to still be just ahead, finishing on a complete stroke, but Grousset’s full extension was enough to get to the wall three hundredths ahead.
Grousset touched in 22.48 to make himself the fourth-fastest man in history. He added a seventh World Championship medal for his career and second gold after previously topping the 100 fly at the 2023 World Championships.
“I don’t know how I feel. This race is very fast, and I got a good time. I worked for this. It’s another race for me and another chance for a medal,” Grousset said. “Overall, I am proud of myself.”
Ponti, with his time of 22.51, reached the long course World Championships podium for the first time in his career and jumped to No. 5 all-time. He had previously won medals at every other major competition, with an Olympic bronze in Tokyo and multiple short course world titles.
“It was a good race, my race especially,” Ponti said. “I think I did almost a perfect race. I took it out fast, and I knew that Maxime would be faster than me in the last meters, we saw it yesterday. It was almost enough to meet him, but not quite yet. I think it was the fastest final in the 50 butterfly ever, so it’s good to be part of it and win a medal.”
There was a 16-hundredth gap back to the rest of the field, and Italy’s Thomas Ceccon emerged to win bronze in 22.67. Ceccon is better known for his abilities in the 100 backstroke, the race in which he won Olympic gold and holds the world record, and he returned to the pool not long after qualifying for the final in his main event. Ceccon previously won gold in the event in 2023.
“Twenty minutes after a 100 back, it’s fine,” Ceccon said. “Still my best time by 0.01, so not bad, but the other guys were faster today. I’ll take a bronze.”
Portugal’s Diogo Matos Ribeiro, last year’s world champion in the race, took fourth in 22.79, with 2017 winner Ben Proud of Great Britain taking fifth (22.79). The final went off without Canada’s Ilya Kharun, who entered the meet as the fastest swimmer in the world in the event.
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