Charlotte Morel
Encyclopedia
Charlotte Morel is a professional French triathlete, nine times National Champion in various duathlon and triathlon categories (cadette, junior, espoir), e.g. National U23 Triathlon Champion of the years 2009, 2010 and 2011, and since 2005 permanent member of the French National Team.
Morel is also one of the few French elite women of the prestigious French club Beauvais, which in 2006, 2009 and in 2010 won both the French Club Championship Series Lyonnaise des Eaux
Grand Prix de Triathlon
The Grand Prix de Triathlon , defines itself as the most outstanding triathlon event in France and attracts numerous international elite triathletes hired by French clubs.The Grand Prix may not be confused with the Coupe de France des Clubs, which is not a...

 and the National Club Championship in Gruissan.

Like David Hauss
David Hauss
David Hauss is a professional French triathlete and bronze medalist at the European Championships 2010. Thanks to his 7th position at the World Championship Series triathlon in London , together with Laurent Vidal, he is definitely qualified for the Olympic Games 2012.David Hauss is number 6 in...

 and Laurant Vidal, Morel is also a member of the French Military Triathlon Team (Equipe de France militaire de triathlon), which in summer 2010 moved from Montpellier to the Ecoles militares de Draguignan (EMD) in Morel's native town.

Education

Having finished the local Collège in Draguignan in 2004, Morel was admitted to the triathlon section of the Pôle Espoir CREPS PACA, a high performance centre situated in a small pine forest in Boulouris close to St. Raphael which closely collaborates with the Lycée Saint Exupery, a high school in St. Raphael. Since then, and up to now, Pierre Houseaux
Pierre Houseaux
Pierre Houseaux is a French Elite triathlete. For several years he has been the Long Distance National Trainer of the French Triathlon Federation and he has also been the director of the triathlon section at the High Performance Centre CREPS PACA.Pierre Houseaux is one of the triathlon pioneers...

 has been Morel’s trainer and she still lives in Boulouris (Aigue Bonne) even though she joined the triathlon club of Beauvais in 2006 and, like the well-known triathletes Sylvain Sudrie, Laurent Vidal, Emmie Charayron
Emmie Charayron
Emmie Charayron , the common form used also by the ITU for Emma Charayron, is a professional French triathlete, European Champion of the year 2011, ten times French Champion in various age categories, and both European and World Champion in the Junior class of the year 2009, and U23 World...

 and Delphine Pelletier
Delphine Pelletier
Delphine Pelletier is an athlete from France, who competes in triathlon. Pelletier competed at the second Olympic triathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics. She was the last athlete to finish, placing forty-fourth, out of the fifty athletes that started, with a time of 2:22:39.28.-References:*...

, she enrolled at the Military School Ecole d’application d’infanterie (= EAI), then in Montpellier, in December 2007 (grade: soldat 1re classe). In 2008 she and her EAI team won the gold medal at the Military World Championships in Estonia and, individually, Morel placed 4th.
At the Military World Championships 2011 in Rio de Janeiro (24 July 2011) Morel placed 5th, the French female team placed fourth and the French mixed team won the gold medal.
In June 2006, Morel took her high-school diploma at the Lycée Saint Exupery (BAC S = scientifique, i.e. sciences de la vie et de la terre) and registered with the University of Nice for undergraduate and postgraduate studies in sports (STAPS = Sciences et techniques des activités physiques et sportives). In summer 2008 she obtained the DEUG STAPS (Diplôme d’études universitaires générales) and in summer 2009 the Licence L3 in éducation et motricité, a kind of Bachelor’s degree, to go on with her Master’s studies in nutrition (Prévention et Education pour la Santé par l'Activité Physique, option Prévention par l'alimentation et la nutrition), which she concluded in June 2011.

Tall as she is (1.72m), Morel has been featured several times as a maillots de bain model, e.g. on the frontpage and in a special section of the leading French magazine Triathlète.
Morel and the several times National and European champion Frédéric Belaubre
Frédéric Belaubre
Fred Belaubre , is a professional French triathlete. He was the European Champion of the years 2005, 2006, and 2008, the French Champion of the years 2007 and 2010. Belaubre took part in two Olympic Games, placing 5th in Athens and 10th in Beijing .- Sports career :Fred Belaubre lives in St...

, who is also part of the elite centre CREPS PACA in Boulouris and the elite team of Beauvais, are a couple.

Career

Born into a sports family, Charlotte Morel started swimming at the age of three, and at ten years old for the first time she took part in cross country running
Cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which people run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open country, and include hills, flat ground and sometimes gravel road...

 competitions organized by the UNSS (= Union nationale du sport scolaire). Her younger brother Jérémy “Jey” Morel is the National French Cyclo-cross
Cyclo-cross
Cyclo-cross is a form of bicycle racing. Races typically take place in the autumn and winter , and consists of many laps of a short course featuring pavement, wooded trails, grass, steep hills and...

 Junior Champion of the year 2009, and it was Charlotte Morel’s uncle Didier Morel who brought her to the triathlon club of Draguignan in 2003.

2005

On her homepage Morel looks at the year 2006 as a turning point when she started to compete internationally and, in Guadeloupe, for the first time took part in a short distance triathlon (Olympic distance).
In 2005, however, Morel won the National Duathlon Championships (category: cadets) and took part in the European Junior Championships in Greece.
Together with winner of the 2004 Junior Championships Juliette Benedicto, she was considered the rising star among the young French triathletes. Morel does not mention this event among her “palmarés” and, in fact, this debut was overshadowed by a serious bicycle accident. Morel managed to finish the race and even overtook five competitors, but she was noticeably weakened and even though, the following day, the French team could place 8th in the women relay (among 11 teams), Morel’s individual time would have relegated her to the most disappointing 29th of 33 places.

2006

At the age of 17 Morel, the 2006 National Champion in Duathlon and Triathlon, started to assert herself on an international level, too. In the Junior class, she placed 13th at the European Championships in Autun and 7th at the World Championships in Lausanne.
At the Duathlon World Championship in Rimini she achieved a top-ten position as well and in Switzerland she won the gold medal at the Sprint Triathlon of Walliswil.
In France she represented the club Beauvais and took part in two triathlons of the prestigious elite D1 Club Championship Series
Grand Prix de Triathlon
The Grand Prix de Triathlon , defines itself as the most outstanding triathlon event in France and attracts numerous international elite triathletes hired by French clubs.The Grand Prix may not be confused with the Coupe de France des Clubs, which is not a...

: in Beauvais she placed 28th and in Lorient 11th.

2007

In 2007 Morel was again the National Duathlon and Triathlon Champion in the Junior class, but she also won the National Triathlon Championships in the U23 category (Espoir) and this result at the same time gained her, at the age of 18, the silver medal in the French Elite ranking.
Morel also represented Beauvais in the Club Championship Series (Grand Prix). In the three competitions in which she took part she was always among the top-three of her age category (Junior): Lorient (3rd, overall 32nd), Embrun (2nd, overall 6th), and La Baule (3rd, overall 8th).
At the European Junior Championships in Copenhagen and the World Junior Championships in Hamburg she placed 6th and 8th respectively. As an 18 year old she also competed in the Elite class successfully: at the European Cup and the Premium European Cup in Poland and in Turkey respectively she placed 11th and 14th.
After her traditional summer training camp in Alpe d'Huez Charlotte Morel won the sprint triathlon in Vaujany (29 July 2007).

2008

In this year Morel competed in various age categories. She placed 9th at the European Junior Championships in Lisbon and 24th at the Junior World Championships in Vancouver.
At the U23 European Championships in Pulpí she placed 5th in the individual ranking and 2nd in the team competition.
In Luxemburg she took part, for the first time in her life, in a European Cup triathlon and straight away won the gold medal. In 2008 Morel also had her World Cup debut, placing 24th in Lorient.
With her French team EAI she also won the gold medal at the Military World Championships in Estonia, placing 4th in the individual ranking.

On the national level, she continued to establish herself as the number one among the young triathletes, although she was not allowed, obviously for some strategic reasons, to take part in the National Junior Championships again, which would have gained her another gold medal, for the last time in the Junior category (jeunes).
She placed 2nd in the National Duathlon Championships, but she won the gold medal in the junior category at the Courte Distance (Olympic distance) triathlon of Embrun.
Morel also took part in three Lyonnaise des Eaux competitions and with her club Beauvais she could win the gold medal in this renowned French Club Championship Series. In Paris she placed 9th (U23: 3rd), in Beauvais 8th (U23: 5th), and in La Baule 13th (U23: 5th).

As the apex of the season 2008, Morel might consider her triumph at the famous triathlon in, or rather onto, L’Alpe d’Huez (31 July 2008) with its famous 21 U-turns and a gradient of 14 per cent, after she had already won the gold medal four days before at the Sprint Triathlon in Vaujany. In 2009, Morel was expected to win again, but right at the beginning of the bicycle race she had to avoid a crashed competitor and had a bad fall, too, whose consequences one could easily notice when Morel took part in her next triathlon, the World Cup of Tiszaújváros.

2009

The two most outstanding international results of 2009 are Morel’s 8th place at the U23 World >Championships (Grand Final of the Dextro Energy Championship Series in Southport / Gold Coast) and her 6th place (Elite) at the Premium European Cup in Alanya, where Morel took the lead in the bicycle race and, when leaving the transition area, was still some 40 seconds ahead of Helle Frederiksen.
In France, Morel could contribute to the gold medal of her club, Beauvais, in both the Lyonnaise des Eaux Club Championship Series and the National Club Championship in Gruissan.
Surprisingly, at the fifth and last Lyonnaise des Eaux competition, the Grand Final in La Baule, Morel was only a spectator. Apart from Delphine Py Bilot (15th), her club relied almost exclusively on its foreign stars Anja Dittmer (1st), Andrea Hewitt
Andrea Hewitt
Andrea Hewitt , is a professional triathlete, she placed third in the World Championship Series of 2009 and took part in the Olympic Games of 2008.- Biography :...

 (3rd), Hollie Avil (5th), and Vicky Holland (12th), without whom the club would never have won the club championship. The winning male team of the Lyonnaise championship series, i.e. Sartrouville, also won the gold medal only with the help of foreign elite stars like the Brownlee brothers.
In three of the four preceding Lyonnaise triathlons Morel outdid Py Bilot: in Dunkerque she placed 15th (4th/U23) whereas Py Bilot placed 24th, in Beauvais Morel placed 6th (3rd/U23) as opposed to Py Bilot’s 7th place, in Tours Morel placed 10th (2nd/U23) whereas Py Bilot was 17th, but in Paris Morel placed 11th (5th/U23) and Py Bilot was 9th.
On 26 September 2009, however, i.e. the day of the famous club championship competition for which she was not nominated, together with her team-mates Laetitia Duhamel and Sophie Henssien, Morel did take part in the Tri Relais of La Baule, as she also took part in the Courte Distance triathlon of La Baule on 27 September 2009. In both competitions Morel easily won the gold medals, but among the competitors of these races there was no match for Morel since not even Emmie Charayron
Emmie Charayron
Emmie Charayron , the common form used also by the ITU for Emma Charayron, is a professional French triathlete, European Champion of the year 2011, ten times French Champion in various age categories, and both European and World Champion in the Junior class of the year 2009, and U23 World...

 took part.
Before the Gold Coast competition Morel had already achieved three top-ten positions in ITU/ETU triathlons in 2009: she had placed 9th (Elite) at the European Cup in Quarteira, 6th at the European U23 Championships in Italy, and 4th at the European Cup in Athlone, although her luggage had been lost and she had to borrow some equipment immediately before the race.

Morel’s very last race of the year 2009 was the triathlon in Karukera which she had already won in 2006 and 2007. This time she finished first as well, though hand in hand with Alexandra Cassan-Ferrier.
In the ITU ranking of the year 2009 (Women's Standing) Morel is number 13 among the best 63 female U23 triathletes of the world.

2010

After the National Team's training camp in Lanzarote, Morel, hampered by an injury, had to do without the run and bike training for one and a half month and after her disappointing 22nd position at the World Cup in Quarteira she decided not to take part in the World Cup in Ishigaki, to which, anyway, most European triathletes could not travel because of the Icelandic ash cloud.
Morel did not start at a range of triathlons which, originally, had been listed among her goals (objectifs) on her webpage, e.g. the FITRI triathlon in Andora, the Triathlon EDF Alpe d'Huez, the European Cup in Geneva, the European U23 Championships in Vila Nova de Gaia (Porto), and the World Cup Tongyeong.

Representing Beauvais Triathlon in the Club Championship Series Lyonnaise des Eaux,
Grand Prix de Triathlon
The Grand Prix de Triathlon , defines itself as the most outstanding triathlon event in France and attracts numerous international elite triathletes hired by French clubs.The Grand Prix may not be confused with the Coupe de France des Clubs, which is not a...

 Morel placed 19th (i.e. 5th in the U23 ranking) in Dunkirk, 13th (3rd) in Beauvais, and 15th (7th) in Paris, thus being always among the three best triathlètes classants l'équipe.
For the Grand Final in La Baule (i.e. Triathlon Audencia) on 18 September 2010, however, her club had nominated her only among the triatlètes invitées U23, obviously because of her persistent knee injury, and she could not finish the race.

The two most successful events were the
  • French National Championships in Charleville, where Morel could again win the U23 title and beat her rival Emmie Charayron
    Emmie Charayron
    Emmie Charayron , the common form used also by the ITU for Emma Charayron, is a professional French triathlete, European Champion of the year 2011, ten times French Champion in various age categories, and both European and World Champion in the Junior class of the year 2009, and U23 World...

    , who had surpassed Morel in Quarteira and had won the silver medal at the World Championship Series triathlon in Madrid, and the
  • Premium European Cup in Brasschaat, where Morel won the silver medal.


At the U23 World Championships in Budapest, her main target of this year, Morel had a bike accident in drenching rain. Back to France she decided not to postpone the inevitable knee surgery.

2011

Morel declared to stay with Beauvais Triathlon although her club will boycot the French Club Championship Series Lyonnaise des Eaux,
Grand Prix de Triathlon
The Grand Prix de Triathlon , defines itself as the most outstanding triathlon event in France and attracts numerous international elite triathletes hired by French clubs.The Grand Prix may not be confused with the Coupe de France des Clubs, which is not a...

 which it has won eleven times.
Thus Morel will concentrate on international events and compete in the German 2. Bundesliga / Nord representing the club EJOT
EJOT
EJOT is a medium sized Group of companies with application markets including the Construction, Automotive and Consumer Electronics industries. The group headquarters are in Bad Berleburg in the Siegen-Wittgenstein region in Germany.- History :...

. At the opening triathlon in Gladbeck (15 May 2011) she placed first in the individual ranking and won the team gold medal together with Scarlet and Mignon Vatlach and Eszter Pap.

ITU Competitions

In the five years from 2005 to 2010, Morel took part in 25 ITU competitions and achieved 13 top ten positions.
Unless indicated otherwise, the following competitions are triathlons and belong to the Elite category.
The list is based upon the official ITU rankings and the athlete's ITU Profile Page.
Date Competition Place Rank
  2005-07-23   European Championships (Junior) Alexandroupoli(s) 36
  2005-07-24   European Championships (Junior Relay) Alexandroupoli(s) 8
  2006-06-23   European Championships (Junior) Autun 13
  2006-09-02   World Championships (Junior) Lausanne 7
  2006-10-07   Duathlon European Championships (Junior) Rimini 6
  2007-06-30   European Championships (Junior) Copenhagen 6
  2007-08-31   BG World Championships (Junior) Hamburg 8
  2007-09-09   Premium European Cup Kedzierzyn Kozle 11
  2007-10-24   Premium European Cup Alanya 14
  2008-05-10   European Championships (Junior) Lisbon 9
  2008-06-05   BG World Championships (Junior) Vancouver 24
  2008-08-24   European Cup & Small States of Europe Championships Weiswampach 1
  2008-09-06   European Championships (U23) Pulpí 5
  2008-09-27   BG World Cup Lorient 24
  2009-04-05   European Cup Quarteira 9
  2009-05-17   Premium European Cup Pontevedra 27
  2009-06-20   European Championships (U23) Tarzo Revine 6
  2009-07-18   European Cup Athlone 4
  2009-08-09   World Cup Tiszaújváros 28
  2009-09-11   Dextro Energy World Championship Series, Grand Final: U23 World Championship Gold Coast 8
  2009-10-25   Premium European Cup Alanya 6
  2010-04-11   European Cup Quarteira 22
  2010-04-25   World Cup Ishigaki DNS
  2010-06-27   Premium European Cup Brasschaat 2
  2010-07-10   World Cup Holten 21
  2010-09-12   Dextro Energy World Championship Series, Grand Final: U23 World Championship Budapest DNF
  2011-04-09   European Cup Quarteira 14
  2011-05-29   Premium European Cup Brasschaat 8
  2011-07-10   World Cup Edmonton 7
  2011-08-14   World Cup Tiszaújváros 37
  2011-09-09   Dextro Energy World Championship Series, Grand Final: U23 World Championship Beijing 8


BG = the sponsor British Gas · DNF = did not finish · DNS = did not start

The French media often depict Morel, the French U23 Champion of 2009 and 2010, and Emmie Charayron
Emmie Charayron
Emmie Charayron , the common form used also by the ITU for Emma Charayron, is a professional French triathlete, European Champion of the year 2011, ten times French Champion in various age categories, and both European and World Champion in the Junior class of the year 2009, and U23 World...

, the Junior World Champion of 2009, as the most promising prospects for the 2012 Summer Olympics
2012 Summer Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the "London 2012 Olympic Games", are scheduled to take place in London, England, United Kingdom from 27 July to 12 August 2012...

. The leading French magazine, Triathlète, for instance, dedicated its famous two page column called “Confrontation” to the two young triathletes.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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