The swimmer from Olympic Nice Natation won her second consecutive “Victoires du Sport” on Monday evening. Charlotte Bonnet was honored after a successful 2015 national season. However, the major goal is already less than six months away in Rio: the Olympic Games.
Nice – Salle Apollon, the first stop on the way to Rio de Janeiro. For the second consecutive year, Charlotte Bonnet stepped onto the top of the podium at the Victoires du Sport. The protégé of Fabrice Pellerin surpassed skier Nastasia Noens and Anna Santamans, the sprinter from Nice trained by Maxime Leutenegger.
Blue-white-red power 5
This trophy rewards a positive 2015 year with five French championship titles in Limoges in the 100m and 200m freestyle, her two favorite distances. She also won three more gold medals in the 50m, 100m breaststroke, and 200m medley. A few months later, in Kazan (Russia), the task became more challenging. The World Championships were not favorable to the Niçoise, who finished 10th in the 100m freestyle semifinals and 9th in the 200m, missing the final by just six hundredths of a second. In a very young French women’s team, she held strong in the relays, but the girls finished 8th and last in both the 4x100m and 4x200m relays.
Three letters
A failure or semi-failure that should serve as a springboard for a 2016 season that has been targeted since August 2012 and the conclusion of the London Olympic Games. Since returning from vacation and resuming training last September, three letters keep coming up: R-I-O or Road To Rio as seen on social media.
Shift into high gear
The first competitions of 2016 have shown a real positive evolution with already some good performances. In Nice at the end of January, Charlotte Bonnet swam 54.62 in the 100m freestyle and repeated in Amiens two weeks ago (54.37). It’s even better in the 200m freestyle with a blazing time of 1:56.73 in Amiens, a time sufficient to secure the plane ticket to Rio. The major national event will take place from March 29 to April 3 with the French Championships in Montpellier, which are qualifiers for Rio. Brazil is so close yet so far at the same time. The opening ceremony will be held on August 5. Until then, the Niçoise has time to polish a salsa on the 100m and 200m freestyle.
