For her second meeting of the year, at home, Charlotte Bonnet clocked two quality times in the 100m and 200m freestyle. The swimmer from Olympic Nice Natation showed ambition in front of the press.
As every year, at the beginning of February, competitions resume their course. A week after a stopover in Luxembourg, the elite group of Olympic Nice Natation hosted its traditional meeting, the Golden Tour Camille Muffat. From Friday to Sunday, the best French and European swimmers competed at the Jean-Bouin Pool. “Competed” is the most appropriate word because all training groups are in a phase of heavy preparation.
Bonnet Accelerates
On Saturday, in the 200m, Charlotte Bonnet did not climb to the top of the podium, edged out by the triple Olympic champion from Hungary, Katinka Hosszu, but her time (1’56”98) proves that the Nice native is increasingly consistent in surpassing the 1’57” mark, akin to the six best in the world over this distance. In one week, the ONN swimmer shaved 2”6 off her Luxembourg time.
This Sunday, in the 100m freestyle, Bonnet outperformed the competition, touching in 54”42, which is half a second better than last week. A high-quality time, during a period of training, with a certain physical fatigue.
At the end of her 100m, poolside, she told the beIN Sports microphone: “It’s a good time, I felt good. We are in a period of work, a new cycle, even harder, starts Monday (yesterday, editor’s note).”
In an interview with François Rabiller on beIN Sports, Fabrice Pellerin’s protégé set her goals for 2017: “I want to win an individual medal at the World Championships (Budapest in August). It’s possible, we need to keep working well, and achieve great times.”
Another key moment, her attachment to Nice: “I am comfortable here, I evolve in a good environment, I am happy with Fabrice Pellerin. We have restructured the group, I was not disturbed by the departures (Wattel, Hache, Santamans).”
And for the rest of her career: “I have set 4 years for myself, for now. After 2020, we’ll see… I am focused on swimming, but I think a lot about the future. I am eager to move on to a new life.”
