From today until Sunday, the Antigone pool in Montpellier is hosting the French Swimming Championships, which are qualifiers for the Rio Olympic Games. The women from ONN in Nice are coming with ambitions: to secure as many tickets to Brazil as possible. A tense week where there is no room for error.
Copacabana, the blue-white-red gear, and the Maria-Lenk Aquatic Park (the name of the Olympic pool in Rio), all of this goes through Montpellier. Over 6 days, the most important French Championships in 4 years will award the precious keys that swimmers have dreamed of since the end of the London Olympics on August 12, 2012.
Bonnet continues her 2016 momentum
For the past two seasons, the spotlight has been on the greatest potential of French women’s swimming. Once again, Charlotte Bonnet will be closely watched. So far, the ONN swimmer is having a very satisfying start to the season. In Amiens, at the beginning of February, Fabrice Pellerin’s trainee went below the qualifying times in the 200m freestyle (1’56”73 for a qualification time of 1’56”78). Three weeks ago, in Marseille, her performance once again approached this rapid time. Two times achieved during intense training periods, a sign of good form. In the 100m, she will need to accelerate. The qualifying time is set at 53”72, while Charlotte Bonnet’s best 2016 time is 54”37 in Amiens. It’s doable.
“I am eager to enter the competition and show what I can do. I think about the Olympic Games almost every night, I want to prove that I can make it,” she stated during a press briefing this Monday.
Her commitments: 100m and 200m freestyle / 100m breaststroke
Santamans, all for the 50m freestyle
For sprint specialists of 50m, the Olympic program is simple: only the 50m freestyle is on the agenda. Maxime Leutenegger’s student will compete in 4 events in Montpellier, but her chances of qualifying for Rio will focus on the 50m freestyle. With a time of 24”71 achieved in Nîmes in mid-December 2015, the Nice swimmer is just two-tenths away from the required time by the Federation. However, in the 100m, she will need to gain more than a second on her time from Amiens (54”93). In butterfly, she will aim for podiums or better…
Her commitments: 50m and 100m freestyle / 50m and 100m butterfly
Wattel to reach a milestone?
The form of the butterfly swimmer is real, as proven by her 58”83 achieved in the 100m butterfly. But if the 18-year-old from Nice wants to head to Rio, she will have to beat her personal record. The Olympic ticket is set at 57”67. In the 50m butterfly, she will try to do better than in Angers in 2015 (3rd behind Gastaldello and Hénique). The freestyle events will be an opportunity to continue her progression and gain experience.
Her commitments: 50m, 100m, and 200m butterfly / 100m and 200m freestyle
Cloé Hache needs reassurance
The youngest in the club and the French team (born in December 1997) is not having an excellent 2016 season. Often struggling in the morning heats, the young Nice swimmer is unable to take a step forward. This year, she has focused on the 100m freestyle, her preferred distance, without great performances (best time: 56”44 in Nice at the end of January). Double bronze medalist in the 100m and 200m freestyle last year, these championships will serve in a linear progression. Participating in relays at the World Championships in Kazan, she gains experience week after week in a very young French women’s team.
Her commitments: 50m, 100m, and 200m freestyle / 100m butterfly
