2023 FRENCH ELITE CHAMPIONSHIPS
- Sunday, June 11th – Friday, June 16th
- Rennes, France
- LCM (50m)
- World Championships Qualifier
- FFN Selection Criteria
- Meet Central
- Entries
- SwimSwam Preview
- Day 1 Prelims Recap / Day 1 Finals Recap
- Day 2 Prelims Recap / Day 2 Finals Recap
- Day 3 Prelims Recap / Day 3 Finals Recap
- Day 4 Prelims Recap / Day 4 Finals Recap
- Live Results
- Live Stream
Charlotte Bonnet set a French record in the women’s 100 breaststroke at the 2023 French Elite Championships, hitting a 1:07.54 to touch second in the final. That time by Bonnet was an improvement upon her own previous French record in the event of 1:07.71 from the prelims session at this meet. Bonnet’s morning swim of 1:07.71 knocked 0.05 seconds off the 1:07.76 from March 2023.
When Bonnet swam that 1:07.76, she broke the more-than-10-year-old French record that Sophie de Ronchi held at a 1:07.97 in 2011. Bonnet’s top four swims of her career now come from 2023 considering the 1:08.27 she swam in Marseille in March.
Split Comparisons
| Bonnet – 2023 French Nationals Finals | Bonnet – 2023 French Nationals Prelims | Bonnet – March 2023 | de Ronchi – 2009 French Nationals | |
| 50 | 31.55 | 31.83 | 31.54 | 32.88 |
| 100 | 1:07.54 (35.99) | 1:07.71 (35.88) | 1:07.76 (36.22) | 1:07.97 (35.29) |
Bonnet is known more as a freestyler on the international stage, having picked up 4×200 freestyle bronze at the London 2012 Olympics and several individual freestyle medals at European Championships. Her breaststroke is, however, a strength in 2023 and it will be interesting to see if she attempts to swim it internationally.
It’s notable that Bonnet opted out of all freestyle events at these French Nationals and instead entered in the 50, 100, and 200 breaststrokes, along with the 200 IM.
She narrowly missed the 2023 World Championships qualifying standard of 1:07.12 and the FINA A cut of 1:07.35. Bonnet did, however, qualify for the 200 IM on day 1 of the meet when she won the event with a 2:10.64 to crack the qualifying standard of 2:12.13. Bonnet got under the 200 breaststroke FINA A cut of 2:25.91 with her gold medal swim of 2:25.21 but missed the French standard of 2:24.63.
Bonnet had the #2 time in this event as Belgian breaststroker Florine Gaspard touched first with a 1:07.21. That was a significant best time by Gaspard who entered the meet with a 1:07.72. She is now within striking distance of the Belgian record in the event of 1:06.97 by Fanny Lecluyse. As Gaspard is Belgian, Bonnet became the French champion with her second-place swim and Justine Delmas rounded out the top three with a 1:08.51.