Aubry relieved to make cut for 800m final at home Games

PARIS, July 29 (Reuters): France's David Aubry felt a wave of relief wash over him after he scraped through to the Olympics men's 800 metres freestyle final at La Defense Arena on Monday in a brutal heats session where some of the favourites were eliminated.

Aubry said he needed a 'miracle' to qualify after finishing his heat and such was the level of the competition that Tokyo bronze medallist Mykhailo Romanchuk of Ukraine and 2023 worlds runner-up Samuel Short of Australia failed to make the cut.

The Frenchman had finished 29th fastest out of the 33 swimmers in the event at the Tokyo Olympics but the 27-year-old redeemed himself in front of a roaring home crowd by winning his heat and going eighth-fastest overall.

"You saw the experience I had at the Tokyo Games, it was really horrible for me, I erased that completely from my mind because there I missed things completely," Aubry told reporters.