Yannick Agnel has set the 200m freestyle as his priority target for the world championships in Shanghai this July, placing the Frenchman on a collision course with several others for whom the four-lap clash sits at the heart of passion in their pursuit of proving themselves the best.

World champion Paul Biedermann (GER) and Olympic champion Michael Phelps (USA) are among those at the top of the list of protagonists this July, Park Tae-Hwan (KOR), Olympic 400m champion and silver medallist behind Phelps over 200m in 2008, at the helm of challengers to the most recent global title winners in the long-course pool.

Agnel has suffered a setback of late: a lung infection put him out of action. However, coach Fabrice Pellerin tells Pascal Glo at L'Equipe that his charge has been pounding out some fast times once more in training in the past week as volume stretched back to 15km a day for the first time since a gentle return to practice at the turn of May.    

Agnel has a compact programme in Shanghai, the 400m and 4x100m free on day 1, the 200m on day 2 and the 4x200m on day 6. Pellerin tells the paper: "The priority is the 200m. It is better to concentrate on a target, or at most two, rather than to run after several hares." The 400m will serve to "liven him up".

The first post-illness and pre-Shanghai test for Agnel unfolds next month, at the Canet-en-Roussillon (June 8-9) and Monaco (June 11-12) rounds of the Mare Nostrum Tour and then at the Paris Open (June 25-26). Over those three meets the intention is to race the 200m thrice, the 400m twice and the 100m once.