Nine men breached 50sec in heats of the 100m freestyle at the French nationals and Olympic trials in Dunkirk this morning, with Olympic champion Alain Bernard second through to semis in 49.07.

Fabien Gilot was at the helm on 49.05, the others making up the sub 50sec crew Grégory Mallet, Clément Lefert, Amaury Leveaux, Frédérick Bousquet, William Meynard, Yannick Agnel and Florent Manaudou. 

Expect the pace to heat up a touch tonight before a final tomorrow that comes with a double-edge sword, solo berths and places on a 4x100m relay that will chase the crown at London 2012 this summer.

All eyes on whether Gaul can contend with events Down Under, with sub 48sec efforts from James Magnussen (47.10) and James Roberts (47.63) leading a wave of 48s.