This weekend marked the final stage of the Golden Tour Meeting in Nancy. Seven weeks after the French Championships qualifiers for the World Championships, the objective was to resume competition and string together races. A special mention goes to Charlotte Bonnet while her teammates faced more difficulties.
The return is always difficult. It was challenging for this first post-French Championships competition (early April in Limoges). With an eye on the World Championships in Kazan (August 2-9), all the swimmers started a new intense work cycle. For three days, in Nancy, the swimmers from Nice concluded the Golden Tour season after the stages in Nice, Amiens, and Marseille.
Bonnet, a positive return
The lovely weekend in Nancy can be credited to Charlotte Bonnet. The Nice-based swimmer with five national titles impressed in the 200m freestyle, clocking the third fastest time of her career in 1:56.89, just three hundredths of a second off her Limoges performance. She also claimed victory in the 100m breaststroke (1:09.30) before lightening her schedule on Sunday with only the heats of the 100m freestyle (54.78, her 4th fastest time in 2015) and the 200m individual medley (2:17.62).
Santamans lacking times
The sprinter, protected by Maxime Leutenegger, had a mixed weekend. In her specialty, the 50m freestyle, Anna finished 2nd with 25.61 far from the 24.82 she achieved in Limoges. Note a 7th place in the 50m butterfly final (27.76) and the 100m freestyle heats completed in 56.90. However, she was eliminated in the morning heats of the 200m freestyle (2:15.01, 37th time) and the 100m butterfly (1:06.41, 22nd time).
Wattel keeps growing
But how far can Marie Wattel go? A month away from her baccalaureate, the butterfly specialist delivered a remarkable competition. Second in the 50m butterfly (26.91, 5th personal best in 2015) and in the 100m butterfly (59.78), she continues to learn alongside great professionals like Mélanie Hénique and Katinka Hosszu. And Marie seems to be increasingly mastering the 200m butterfly with the 4th fastest time in the heats at 2:14.57, a better time than her finals in Nice and Amiens. As always, she enjoyed the freestyle competition with a 6th place in the 50m (26.20), the best time in the B final of the 200m (2:02.72, her 2nd best time in 2015) and the 17th fastest time in the 100m heats (58.67).
Hache, falling back
Similarly to her peer and friend, Marie Wattel, this period has been challenging and it showed. Only one A final appearance over these three days: the 200m freestyle where she achieved the 7th time (2:01.59, her 4th best time in 2015). In the 50m freestyle, Cloé was 2nd in the B final with 26.48, while in the 100m, she was competitive with the 3rd fastest time in the heats (56.32). Finally, in the 100m butterfly, the Nice swimmer was distant, finishing 5th in the B final with 1:02.30.
For the ONN swimmers, the next event is scheduled for the weekend of June 6-7 for the first stage of the Mare Nostrum in Canet-en-Roussillon.
Photo credit: FFN
