As in Berlin in 2014, the French team (now consisting of Bonnet, Santamans, Mignon, and Stravius) clinched the bronze medal in the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay. Individually, Charlotte Bonnet easily qualified for the 200m freestyle and will aim for a medal this Saturday evening.
Bonnet act 3, Santamans act 2. Relays always bring their share of joy, podiums, and therefore medals. The two competitors from Nice, on Friday evening, won a continental medal in an event that debuted in 2014, the mixed 4x100m freestyle relay. Ahead, the Netherlands and Italy were a cut above. It wasn’t easy for Bonnet-Mignon-Stravius to digest the 200m semi-final for one, and the 100m final for the other two.
Bonnet medal objective
With the third-fastest time in the 200m freestyle semi-finals (1’57”64), Fabrice Pellerin’s protégé can dream of a first individual medal. Behind Federica Pellegrini, there is room, but she must not waste time. The silver and bronze medals are expected to be contested with Heemskerk, Costa Schmid, and Verrastzto. To achieve this, Charlotte Bonnet will need to swim around her best 2016 time (1’56”32 at the French Championships in Montpellier at the beginning of April).
“I kept a good pace without leaving any feathers behind” analyzed Charlotte Bonnet on France Télévision’s microphone.
Other performances by the Nice competitors
Thursday was a black day for the competitors from Nice. Marie Wattel logically passed the heats cut in the 100m butterfly (10th in 59”15) but collapsed in the semi-final that evening, overcome by the stress and pressure of major competitions (15th in 59”27). By swimming 58”83, her best performance this year, she would have fallen just a tenth short of qualifying. Managing big events remains a key focus for the butterfly swimmer from ONN.
No luck for Cloé Hache, who participated in the heats of the 4x200m freestyle relay. The blue relay missed the final qualification by one-hundredth of a second. This miss leaves regrets for the girls born between 1992 and 1996 who need to string together races at the highest level.
