Mélanie Hénique qualified for the 50m butterfly final of the World Swimming Championships on Friday in Doha.
After swimming in 25 sec 44/100th during the morning heats, Hénique improved her time with a time of 25 sec 27/100th during her semi-final, in which she took first place.
The Frenchwoman thus achieved the second best time in the semi-finals behind the untouchable Sarah Sjöström (25 sec 08/100th).
"It's not bad!"
, reacted Hénique.
“It’s cool because I felt good.
(...) I feel like things are really starting to gain momentum.
I'm happy to be here, to be able to be competitive from February, it sets a big starting point for this Olympic year.
While many French swimmers decided to skip these unusually placed Worlds in February, Hénique explained that they wanted to make the trip to Qatar to repeat the races at an international level five months before the Olympics.
“It’s a last rehearsal before the Games, so there you go, we are here in the right place at the right time
,” she declared.
The final will take place on Saturday evening.
The 31-year-old swimmer will also compete in the 50m freestyle heats on Saturday morning.