T&T's George Bovell splashed off his final warm-up ahead of the Pan American Games in Toronto, Canada with an impressive fifth placed finish in the men's 50m breaststroke final on the opening night of the French Open Swimming Championship at the Stade aquatique Vichy Val d'Allier, yesterday.
The T&T ace, a two-time World Championship bronze medallist, touched the wall in 22.26 seconds in a star-studded final behind Olympic gold medallist Florent Manaudo of France.
Mnaudo won in 21.61, a meet record, followed by world champion Cesar Cielo of Brazil in 22.15, Greece's Kristian Gkolomeev (22.17) and Ukraine's Andrey Govorov (22.21).
Japan's Shinri Shioura, Bovell's team-mate at Italian ADN Swim Project club, was sixth in 22.45 with former Auburn swimmer Frederick Bousquet of France seventh in 22.47 and Italians Lucca Dotto, eighth in 22.68,
In the morning heats Bovell III, a five-time NCCA individual champion, was also the fifth fastest in 22.45 to trail Manaudo (22.03), Govorov (22.20), Cielo (22.23) and Gkolomeev (22.37) while Shioura (22.52), Bousquet (22.68) and Dotto (22.93) were sixth, seventh and eight respectively the same as the finals placings,
On Saturday in the eight-man 50m breaststroke final, the 31-year-old Olympic bronze medal winner Bovell touched the wall in a new national record of 27.57 seconds to better his 27.69 set in Belgium earlier this year for bronze.
South African Cameron Van Der Burgh won gold in 27.09 while Slovenian Damir Dugonjic took silver in 27.44.
Commenting on his breaststroke swim, Bovell said he was very happy with the performance as that time would most likely give him a place in the finals at next month's World Championship in Kazan.
He added: "I believe there is still room for improvement as I had the lead for a while but lost some rhythm near the end and had a short finish.
Based on the event, the T&T swimmer is considering adding it to his list of events for next year's Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. It will be his his sixth Olympic Games. "I will have to start taking it more seriously because my chances of medalling in it are proving realistic," he said.
Earlier in the heats, Bovell competing in his first event since taking a two-week break following the second-leg of the Aspira Swimming Cup in Turin, Italy in the second week of June was the sixth fastest overall in 28.15.
He will now head to Toronto, Canada for the Pan American Games with the swimming segment set for July 14-18.