First French medal at the Doha Swimming World Championships.
This Saturday, Mélanie Henique won the silver medal in the 50m butterfly, achieving a beautiful time of 25″44 and finishing less than a second behind the legendary Sarah Sjöström.
At 30, the Swede won her sixth consecutive world title over the distance.
Since Kazan, in 2015, she has won the gold medal at each edition.
For Mélanie Henique, this world medal is the third in long course over the distance.
In Shanghai, in 2011, the native of Amiens won the bronze medal, before winning silver in Budapest in 2022. This performance bodes well for the Frenchwoman, who is a candidate for the Olympic medal less than six months before the Paris Games.
Also read “It’s a beautiful story”: Mélanie Hénique savors her silver medal at the World Swimming Championships
“I'm ready for the Olympics and I'm happy to be here, with the best athletes on the planet,” she declared as she left the pool.
Egyptian Farida Osman took third place.
#Doha2024 |
Mélanie Henique, world vice-champion in the 50m butterfly 🥈
This is the first medal for the French team at the Swimming World Championships in Doha 💥 pic.twitter.com/teM11ZsTXq
— francetvsport (@francetvsport) February 17, 2024
This silver medal for Mélanie Henique is the first for the French swimming team at the World Championships in Doha.
The Blues, however, shone in open water swimming as Logan Fontaine won the title in 5 km, while Marc-Antoine Olivier finished second in the 5 km and 10 km.
In high diving, Gary Hunt won the silver medal.