Two days after a missed meeting in the 100m freestyle, Maxime Grousset managed to remobilize to become vice-world champion in the 100m butterfly in the short course, this Saturday, December 14 in Budapest. In the final, Grousset swam in 48″57, clearly improving his own French record. The New Caledonian was only beaten by the Swiss Noé Ponti, who broke the world record for the distance in 47″71 . Grousset brings France its fourth medal of the competition after Béryl Gastaldello’s three podiums. “I easily took 5/10th off my personal best, and above all I had a lot of fun doing this race,” he rejoiced. For his trainer Michel Chrétien, this 100m visibly “unlocked something”. “I think after the 100m freestyle, he must have said to himself: ‘Okay, I’m putting the pressure on myself.’ And suddenly, we found him the next day messing around, very relaxed, the Max we usually know. So I think the 100m freestyle did him good. » Bronze medalist at the Olympics with the 4x100m medley relay, Grousset came to Paris with higher ambitions, having won a long course world title in the 100m butterfly in 2023. In Budapest, the 25-year-old swimmer will still have an opportunity to get on the podium, after qualifying for the 50m freestyle final. Saturday, 45 minutes after his medal, he dove again to set the sixth time in the semi-finals (20″78), 88 hundredths behind the best time achieved by Caymanian Jordan Crooks.