Carla Sénéchal and Margot Boch have been the only French bobsleigh team since summer 2018. -

David Malacrida

  • A 14 to 18-year-old luge practitioner, Margot Boch started looking for a partner in 2018 to get into bobsleigh.

  • She met Carla Sénéchal, also a Savoyard, and a national athlete over 100 m.

    The first French women's bobsleigh team for ten years was then born in La Plagne.

  • The two young girls, very accomplices, entered the world circuit and aim to qualify for the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing.

    This would be a great first for the tricolor women's bobsleigh.

From simply making contact on Facebook in July 2018 to participating in the 2022 Olympic Games in Beijing?

The pilot Margot Boch (21 years old) and the pusher Carla Sénéchal (24 years old) took up the “crazy challenge” when they created their two-man bobsleigh team.

It would even be a historic first for French women at the Olympics.

"It's very hard to know how to start this sport," says Margot Boch, whose father and grandfather were both bobsledders.

With a finish of 130 km / h in the bends, it is a discipline that impresses.

We hope to make the youngest want to get started.

"

Until then a national athlete over 100 m, the Chambérienne Carla Sénéchal contacted Margot, originally from La Plagne (Savoie), after having heard of her desires to switch from the toboggan (solo), which she had been practicing since l age 14, two-man bobsleigh.

“A lot of pushers come from athletics because you need speed and explosiveness,” Carla explains.

And then as a Savoyard, I knew the discipline.

After a summer of working on the pushing technique and our synchronization, we quickly found ourselves crossing Europe driving our 200 kg bob in a small truck.

"

The "twin sisters" discover the European circuit after three months

Margot's family financed the precious machine which is worth 50,000 euros.

If we add to this the fact that France has not had a women's team for ten years, this adventure would almost push us to hum

I can see clearly now

by Jimmy Cliff.

“We are often told that we do bob like in

Rasta Rockett. 

The film is well done, it sometimes makes us think of our history, ”said Clara Sénéchal.

“The real difference is that I study the turns before the races on the computer and not with photos in a bathtub,” laughs Margot Boch.

Margot and Carla are so close together that their opponents thought they were twin sisters.

A nickname was immediately born in the world of bobsleigh.

- David Malacrida

The arrival on the European circuit of the two young tricolors, with a 14th place in Königssee (Germany) in October 2018, did not go unnoticed.

“Everyone asked us if we were twin sisters, as we are blondes with blue eyes, with small sizes, which is rare in a bob, remembers the pilot Margot Boch.

And our complicity made them believe that we had always known each other.

"

They gained five seconds in two years

They immediately inherited the nickname “ 

Twin sisters

 ” and began to divide their time between Germany, world reference with its four tracks, and La Plagne, where the only French track is located, which hosted the Albertville Olympic Games in 1992. After having chained two podiums in the European Cup at the end of 2019, it is also on their Savoyard lands that they obtain a promising 6th place, during their first World Cup stage in January 2020.

Fifth in Latvia then sixth in Austria this season on the world circuit, the two bobsledders are currently preparing for the world championships in Altenberg (Germany) on February 5 and 6.

In two years, the

Twin Sisters

have improved their times by five seconds in races that last an average of one minute.

And yet their good progress does not allow them to live off their passion.

The two Savoyards in full training, in their resort of La Plagne.

- David Malacrida

"These sacrifices, we make them with our eyes closed"

“During our five-month season, all our trips are now taken care of by the federation,” says Margot.

But we are not professional, we have no income and we depend on the support of our family.

»A choice assumed for the two Savoyards, who continue their studies at a distance, physical preparation for Carla and business for Margot.

"We know that we do not secure our future with the bob," explains Carla.

But these sacrifices, we make them with our eyes closed, since our meeting we have dreamed of the 2022 Olympics. ”Closely followed by Bruno Mingeon, the only French pilot to win a (bronze) medal in the history of bobsleigh, during the 1988 Olympics. in Nagano, they aim for "a Top 10 in Beijing", then "a podium in 2026".

In France also the bob has a team.

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