“I have gained strength,” assures Lucie Christophe, the swimming champion from Nissan-lez-Ensérune

Lucie Christophe has gained in muscle, power and speed. Enough to become French junior champion in the 200m butterfly.

Lucie Christophe has gained in muscle, power and speed. Enough to become French junior champion in the 200m butterfly.

Lucie Christophe has gained muscle, power and speed. Enough to become the French junior champion in the 200m butterfly. Laurent François – Midi Libre

The Nissan swimmer has changed coaches. After Philippe Lucas, she joined Steeve Bei, in Grenoble, with whom she has reached a new level. She has just been crowned French junior champion in the 200m butterfly.

“I think she is even more square than me!”laughs Christophe Régis when talking about his daughter Lucie. The father of the swimming champion, who is nevertheless a fan of weight rooms, is not really wrong… It is obvious that in recent months, the young woman has gained muscle. She has clearly bulked up at the shoulder level, which has allowed her, among other things, to reach a milestone.

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Having left Martigues this summer, after three years working with Philippe Lucas, the Nissanaise has been training since September with Steeve Bei, a former student of Lucas. And the thirty-year-old has quickly learned to get the best out of the swimmer. Under his guidance, and with specific work focused on speed and strength training, she has improved her times over her favorite distances. During the French elite championship, she notably gained three seconds in the 100m butterfly, going from 1’05” to 1’03”30.

A meteoric rise

For his last French junior championship, this meteoric rise allowed him to win the title in the 200m butterfly (2’15”70) and finish 2nd in the 400m medley, with a time of 4’51”79, 2 seconds better than his record: “Before joining Steeve, I had a tendency to accumulate poor performances, explains Lucie Christophe. In particular, I missed my qualification for the junior Euros by three seconds. I was poorly prepared and not in shape. With him, I work more on my technique. He knew what I needed to do to progress.”

“Physically, I feel very better”

A new coach, a new city, Grenoble, another work environment… That was all it took for Lucie Christophe to get back on track. And rediscover the pleasure of swimming: “There are sixteen of us in the group, it's really cool, she smiles. I'm having a great time, it's a new start. It's allowed me to progress. I feel that underwater and in the turns, I've gained power. Physically, I feel much better.”

At the beginning of the year, the Nissan native will go on a training course in the Canary Islands, then in Egypt. Enough to continue to gain momentum. With the French long-course championships in sight in June 2025, which will take place in Montpellier in front of its fans.