“Honestly, I had so much fun. It was terrible.” At the microphone of Nelson Monfort and France Television, Marie-Julie Bonnin had a smile, Wednesday evening, near the track of the Olympic stadium in Munich. The young Bordeaux girl had just finished sixth in the pole vault competition. No medal therefore, but a personal record beaten. The Stade Bordelais licensee passed a bar at 4.55 meters on her second try. And failed three times, by very little, to cross the next height, at 4m65.
Promising, at only 20 years old and for his first major competition in the jersey of the France team. Vice-champion of Europe in 2019 among juniors with 4m16, she had no longer jumped above 4m10 during the two “covid years” in 2020 and 2021. With her new coach Damiel Dossevi, her year 2022 was therefore the one progression, and personal bests. Julie-Marie Bonnin thus spent 4m21 indoors this winter. Then 4m46 in June, rising to 4m51 in July at Pessac. Before the 4m55 in the ultra-tough competition in Munich.
– CHRISTIAN BRUNA/EPA/MaxPPP
At not even 21 years old, she is already the sixth best Frenchwoman of all time outdoors. Marie-Julie Bonnin is therefore launched into a two-year sprint which will probably go, if she continues on her way, from her first world championships in Budapest in 2023, to the Olympic Games in Paris-2024.