The 4x100m relay girls secured a commendable seventh place in the final, achieving their goal. For her first Olympic Games, Marie Wattel fell short in her bid to reach the semi-finals. The swimmer from Olympic Nice Natation finished with the 24th fastest time in the heats.
The standout performance of this first day belongs to the 4x100m relay team. Last night, in the final, the quartet of Bonnet-Santamans-Gastaldello-Cini took 7th place in the final (3’37”45). Earlier in the day (early evening in France), these same four athletes had finished in the eighth and last qualifying spot for the grand final. With a time of 3’56″85, the French team shattered the national record by nearly a second, a record dating back to the Beijing Olympics in 2008. Notably, Charlotte Bonnet posted the sixth-fastest split time with a clocking of 53″16 and delivered a similar performance in the final with 53”17.
“We gave it our all,” emphasized Charlotte Bonnet in an interview with France Television. “The goal was to reach the final and then climb up the rankings. Being seventh in the world is no small feat,” added Béryl Gastaldello.
Wattel in Learning Phase
At 18, Marie Wattel couldn’t make a significant impact in the harsh and unforgiving world of the Olympics. Below her performance level from the previous year, Fabrice Pellerin’s protégé would have needed to beat her personal best to hope for a spot among the top 16 butterfly swimmers in the 100m. With a time of 58″90, she finished in 24th place, just ahead of her compatriot Béryl Gastaldello.
Beyond the Relay…
This season, Marie Wattel held a personal best of 58″38, achieved at the French Swimming Championships at the end of March in Montpellier. This is her first setback, given her potential to aim for a semi-final. Next on the agenda is the 4x100m relay at the end of the coming week, where the French team will attempt to reach the final.
