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[[Image:Flo.JPG|thumb|Florent Lecoanet, by many considered to be the greatest Super Mario Kart player in the world]]

[[Image:Flo.JPG|thumb|Florent Lecoanet, by many considered to be the greatest Super Mario Kart player in the world]]

'''Florent Lecoanet''' (7/2/1984) is a French [[Mario Kart]] player and by many considered to be the greatest [[Super Mario Kart]] player in history. Florent has excelled in various multiplayer [[SMK]] events; he won 1 French title ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2007.php CDF 2007]), 1 European title ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2008.php CDE 2008]) and 1 World title ([http://nextlevelgaming.ogamewar.com/ NLG 2007]).  

'''Florent Lecoanet''' (7/2/1984) is a French [[Mario Kart]] player and by many considered to be the greatest [[Super Mario Kart]] PAL version Multiplayer karter and one of the best Time Trial players in history. Florent has excelled in various multiplayer [[SMK]] events; he won 1 French title ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2007.php CDF 2007]), 1 European title ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2008.php CDE 2008]) and 1 World title ([http://nextlevelgaming.ogamewar.com/ NLG 2007]).  

Furthermore, Florent has been GP 150cc Champion of the World on [[PAL]] since March 2006, only overtaken very briefly once by [[Sébastien Holmière]] in the summer of 2006. He extended his GP dominance to [[NTSC]] in January 2007 and has not really been threatened there since.  

Furthermore, Florent has been GP 150cc Champion of the World on [[PAL]] since March 2006, only overtaken very briefly once by [[Sébastien Holmière]] in the summer of 2006. He extended his GP dominance to [[NTSC]] in January 2007 and has not really been threatened there since.  

[[Image:CDF 2006.JPG|thumb|Championship of France 2006]]

[[Image:CDF 2006.JPG|thumb|Championship of France 2006]]

In the summer of 2006, the webmaster of the [http://www.mariokart64.com/smk SMK Time Trial site], [http://speedrunwiki.com/Sami Sami Çetin], hosted a world wide kart meet in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydon Croydon], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England England]. Florent attended this event and this was the first time he travelled outside of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France France] to meet fellow karters. He wore a T-shirt specifically designed for this event, a gesture that was greeted with much enthusiasm by the other karters. At this point he had already become a strong force to be reckoned with in [[SMK]], but he still lacked a little experience against the likes of [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] and [[Sami]], thus losing to them marginally in Match Race. He did however pull out a 10-10 tie against the [[PAL]] [[Time Trial]] Champion at that time, [[Karel van Duijvenboden]].

In the summer of 2006, the webmaster of the [http://www.mariokart64.com/smk SMK Time Trial site], [http://speedrunwiki.com/Sami Sami Çetin], hosted a world wide kart meet in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croydon Croydon], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/England England]. Florent attended this event and this was the first time he travelled outside of [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France France] to meet fellow karters. He wore a T-shirt specifically designed for this event, a gesture that was greeted with much enthusiasm by the other karters. At this point he had already become a strong force to be reckoned with in [[SMK]], but he still lacked a little experience against the likes of [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] and [[Sami]], thus losing to them marginally in Match Race by 12-8 scores respectively. He did however pull out a 10-10 tie against the [[PAL]] [[Time Trial]] Champion at that time, [[Karel van Duijvenboden]].

== CDF 2006 ==

== SMK Championship of France 2006 ==

[[Image:NLG world championship 2007.jpg|thumb|Next Level Gaming World Championship, Norway, July 2007]]

[[Image:NLG world championship 2007.jpg|thumb|Next Level Gaming World Championship, Norway, July 2007]]

== NLG Norway 2007 ==

== Next Level Gaming (NLG Meet) Norway 2007 ==

[[Image:Flo Winner CDF 2007.JPG|thumb|Championship of France 2007]]

[[Image:Flo Winner CDF 2007.JPG|thumb|Championship of France 2007]]

Florent effectively became the World Champion of Match Race by winning the [http://nextlevelgaming.ogamewar.com/nlg-history-f4/nlg-07-norway-t3.htm SMK tournament] at the Next Level Gaming Championships ([http://nextlevelgaming.ogamewar.com/ NLG]), which was held in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkanger Orkanger] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway Norway]), July 2007. He beat his eternal rival [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre L’Hoëst] in a historically thrilling semi final and secured the victory by beating [[SMK]] veteran [http://speedrunwiki.com/Sami Sami Çetin] in the final with a convincing 10-5 win. He also took part in various other tournaments and delivered an especially fine performance in the [http://www.absolute-playstation.com/api_review/rcircuit.htm Circuit Breakers] tournament. He almost made the final round, which featured the 4 best players, but in the end he lost out to [[Patrick Wessels]] in the deciding semi final tie-breaker.

Florent effectively became the PAL World Champion of Match Race by winning the [http://nextlevelgaming.ogamewar.com/nlg-history-f4/nlg-07-norway-t3.htm SMK tournament] at the Next Level Gaming Championships ([http://nextlevelgaming.ogamewar.com/ NLG]), which was held in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orkanger Orkanger] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway Norway]), July 2007. He beat his eternal rival [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre L’Hoëst] in a historically thrilling semi final and secured the victory by beating [[SMK]] veteran [http://speedrunwiki.com/Sami Sami Çetin] in the final with a convincing 10-5 win. The Match Race World Championship had karters from far reaches of the World including USA, Australia, Norway, Sweden, Netherlands, France and UK.

== CDF 2007 ==

 

 

 

== SMK Championship of France/Europe 2007 ==

Two months later in Paris, Florent signed off on another momentous year with a winning performance at the French Championship. Because of his success in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway Norway], Florent entered the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2007.php CDF of 2007] as one of the two clear favourites to win. It was expected that the overall win would either go to [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre L'Hoëst] or him. The rivalry between the two became clear from the very start as they faced eachother in the final of the first event, which was the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2007.php TT tournament]. This final took place on one of his favourite tracks, [[KB1]], but the pressure got to him as he hit some weed and ended in 2nd place with [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] grabbing the first gold medal of that [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] with a clean race. Florent made his candidacy for the overall win clear early on though. In the Match Race tournament he faced [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] in the final again, but this time the gold medal went to Florent after a convincing 11-7 in his favour. The Battle Mode tournament saw another [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] versus Florent final. The level on display was extremely high and to this day Florent claims that the level he reached in this match was the highest he has ever reached as an [[SMK]] player. Despite Pierre’s strong resistance and fine form, Florent proved to be an unstoppable force from now on, winning the tournament in style with a 11-4 victory. Florent was comfortably in the lead in the overall rankings now, with his best mode (GP) still ahead. Only a miracle could stop him from winning his first CDF from that point onwards. When Florent reached the final of the GP tournament ([http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] was knocked out at this point), he was already certain of the overall victory. But as a true champion he gave it his best once more to also claim the title in the GP final in a thrilling early morning match against [[Nicolas Haufmann]] (also known as El Nico on the boards). Nicolas could not prevent Florent from reaching a landslide 5-1 victory, meaning that Florent succesfully crowned his [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] with another gold medal. Rarely had the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] seen such a display of dominance from one karter, winning all the multiplayer modes with big scorelines plus reaching the final of the TT event as well.

Two months later in Paris, Florent signed off on another momentous year with a winning performance at the French Championship. Because of his success in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norway Norway], Florent entered the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2007.php CDF of 2007] as one of the two clear favourites to win. It was expected that the overall win would either go to [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre L'Hoëst] or him. The rivalry between the two became clear from the very start as they faced eachother in the final of the first event, which was the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2007.php TT tournament]. This final took place on one of his favourite tracks, [[KB1]], but the pressure got to him as he hit some weed and ended in 2nd place with [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] grabbing the first gold medal of that [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] with a clean race. Florent made his candidacy for the overall win clear early on though. In the Match Race tournament he faced [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] in the final again, but this time the gold medal went to Florent after a convincing 11-7 in his favour. The Battle Mode tournament saw another [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] versus Florent final. The level on display was extremely high and to this day Florent claims that the level he reached in this match was the highest he has ever reached as an [[SMK]] player. Despite Pierre’s strong resistance and fine form, Florent proved to be an unstoppable force from now on, winning the tournament in style with a 11-4 victory. Florent was comfortably in the lead in the overall rankings now, with his best mode (GP) still ahead. Only a miracle could stop him from winning his first CDF from that point onwards. When Florent reached the final of the GP tournament ([http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] was knocked out at this point), he was already certain of the overall victory. But as a true champion he gave it his best once more to also claim the title in the GP final in a thrilling early morning match against [[Nicolas Haufmann]] (also known as El Nico on the boards). Nicolas could not prevent Florent from reaching a landslide 5-1 victory, meaning that Florent succesfully crowned his [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] with another gold medal. Rarely had the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] seen such a display of dominance from one karter, winning all the multiplayer modes with big scorelines plus reaching the final of the TT event as well.

== CDE 2008 ==

== Super Mario Kart European Championship 2008 ==

[[Image:Sami_and_Flo.JPG|thumb|Championship of Europe 2008]]

[[Image:Sami_and_Flo.JPG|thumb|Championship of Europe 2008]]

This year the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] became the CDE, with players joining from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France France], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain Spain], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/england England], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands the Netherlands], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium Belgium], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany Germany] and even one from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA USA]. Because of all those countries being represented, the list of participants was historically high, reaching a total of 39 entrants. With his biggest rival [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] now being retired from multiplayer SMK, Florent entered the tournament as the big favourite. New rivals emerged though, the American [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew Blumfield] would prove to be the surprise package of this edition, both in his behaviour and his extreme karting abilities. Florent’s main focus was on winning the [[Time Trial]] event, which he labeled his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open Roland Garros], seeing it was the only mode where he didn’t win a gold medal yet. Obviously this refers to his idol and look-a-like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federer Roger Federer] not being able to win [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open Roland Garros], whereas he has won all other [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(tennis) Grand Slams] numerous times. Florent would break his own tradition though; he enjoyed a prosperous start, doing very well in the qualifying stages and winning with seconds to spare in the [[CI1]] final versus [http://speedrunwiki.com/Karel_van_Duijvenboden Karel] by making the wall Shortcut 5 out of 5 times.  

This year the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] became the Championship of Europe (CDE), with players joining from [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France France], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Switzerland Switzerland], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spain Spain], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/england England], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Netherlands the Netherlands], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belgium Belgium], [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germany Germany] and even one from the [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USA USA]. Because of all those countries being represented, the list of participants was historically high, reaching a total of 39 entrants. With his biggest rival [http://speedrunwiki.com/Pierre_L%27Hoest Pierre] now being retired from multiplayer SMK, Florent entered the tournament as the big favourite. New rivals emerged though, the American [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew Blumfield] would prove to be the surprise package of this edition, both in his behaviour and his extreme karting abilities. Florent’s main focus was on winning the [[Time Trial]] event, which he labeled his [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open Roland Garros], seeing it was the only mode where he didn’t win a gold medal yet. Obviously this refers to his idol and look-a-like [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Federer Roger Federer] not being able to win [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_Open Roland Garros], whereas he has won all other [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Slam_(tennis) Grand Slams] numerous times. Florent would break his own tradition though; he enjoyed a prosperous start, doing very well in the qualifying stages and winning with seconds to spare in the [[CI1]] final versus [http://speedrunwiki.com/Karel_van_Duijvenboden Karel] by making the wall Shortcut 5 out of 5 times.

 

 

 

In Match Race everything was going according to plan as well and he reached the final with relative ease, after a strong semi final performance against [http://speedrunwiki.com/Sami Sami] (9-5). The fact [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew] would be his opponent in the final came as a surprise to pretty much everyone, seeing [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew’s] only previous [[PAL]] experience came from playing it on an [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Console_emulator emulator], which is sub-optimal compared to practicing on a real [[SNES]]. Even more surprisingly he even gave Florent a good run for his money, though Florent did finish the job by winning 11-7 in the end. Battle Mode was the mode everyone was waiting for though, the field had never been this strong, especially with Battle Mode World Champion [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew Blumfield] taking part. Florent faced [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew] in the semi final in an epic match. He gave it his outmost best, even so much so in fact that he ran out of breath after the match had finished. [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew] did win (9-6), but Florent definitely didn’t go down without a fight. Florent and [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew] were quite close in the overall rankings at this point, however Florent already practically sealed the victory with his strongest mode GP coming up. [http://speedrunwiki.com/Drew_Blumfield Drew] got knocked out early, whereas Florent went on to win the final against [[Matthias Boucher]] (also known as Gatchan on the boards) in a 5-0 clean sweep. Thus, Florent was the winner of the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/CDF2008.php CDE 2008] edition. Being the trophy hunter that he is, he also won the Master Cup after, defeating [http://speedrunwiki.com/Sami Sami] comfortably in the final.

The first Official Super Mario Kart PAL World Championship is set to take place between 18th - 22nd August in France and Florent is shaping up to be the favourite to win once again. However it will be a strong battle as per the previous years and there could be surprises in store.

== CDF/CDE Medal Collection ==

== CDF/CDE Medal Collection ==

Florent is perhaps most famous for his high level performances during the annually organized [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF]/CDE. The [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] was founded in 2002 by Franck Mazieres; in the beginning it mainly featured French competitors and a few Swiss ones. This changed in 2008, which showed an influx of competitors from outside of France; the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] would therefore be known as CDE from that year onwards; CDE being an abbreviation of Championnat d’Europe, meaning Championship of Europe in English.

Florent is perhaps most famous for his high level performances during the annually organized [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF]/CDE. The [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] was founded in 2002 by Franck Mazieres; in the beginning it mainly featured French competitors and a few Swiss ones. This changed in 2008, which showed an influx of competitors from outside of France; the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF] would therefore be known as CDE from that year onwards; CDE being an abbreviation of Championnat d’Europe, meaning Championship of Europe in English.

In various [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF]/CDE events since 2005 Florent has gathered 3 gold medals in GP ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/GP2006.php 2006], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/GP2007.php 2007], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/GP2008.php 2008]), 3 gold medals in Match Race ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/MR2006.php 2006], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/MR2007.php 2007], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/MR2008.php 2008]), 1 gold medal in Battle Mode ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/BM2007.php 2007]), 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in Time Trial ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2008.php 2008], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2007.php 2007] and [http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2006.php 2006] respectively) and one Master Cup ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/MC2008.php 2008]). The Master Cup was introduced as a new element at the SMK Championships of 2008 as an experiment and was scheduled after the overall competition was finished. The goal was to see if a more randomly organized tournament system could work for future tournaments, clear favourites were not seeded for example, but it was not an undisputed success and might not return in future tournaments.

In various [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF]/CDE events since 2005 Florent has gathered 3 gold medals in GP ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/GP2006.php 2006], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/GP2007.php 2007], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/GP2008.php 2008]), 3 gold medals in Match Race ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/MR2006.php 2006], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/MR2007.php 2007], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/MR2008.php 2008]), 1 gold medal in Battle Mode ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/BM2007.php 2007]), 1 gold medal, 1 silver medal and 1 bronze medal in Time Trial ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2008.php 2008], [http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2007.php 2007] and [http://www.championnat-smk.org/TT2006.php 2006] respectively) and one Master Cup ([http://www.championnat-smk.org/MC2008.php 2008]). The Master Cup was introduced as a new element at the SMK Championships of 2008 as an experiment and was scheduled after the overall competition was finished. The goal was to see if a more randomly organized tournament system could work for future tournaments, clear favourites were not seeded for example, but it was not an undisputed success and will not return in future tournaments.

== Professional life ==

== Professional life ==

In daily life Florent is studying to become either a [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_education physical education] ([http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physical_education PE]) teacher or an overall teacher at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_school elementary school]. He studied 5 years in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers Angers], 1 year in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mans Le Mans] and from 8 September 2008 onwards he will study 1 year in his city of birth, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennes Rennes]. One thing is certain, whoever his students are going to be, they don’t stand even the smallest chance of winning when they play against their teacher in [[SMK]], or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis tennis] for that matter…

In daily life Florent has completed his studies and is to become an overall teacher at [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elementary_school elementary school]. He studied 5 years in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angers Angers], 1 year in [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Mans Le Mans] and 1 year in his city of birth, [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rennes Rennes]. One thing is certain, whoever his students are going to be, they don’t stand even the smallest chance of winning when they play against their teacher in [[SMK]], or [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tennis tennis] for that matter…

With his all-round [[SMK]] ability many people expect that he will keep on winning the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF]/CDE/CDM for years to come. With him being the man to beat now, he is in a totally different position then the one he was used to be in. It will be interesting to see if he can withstand this added pressure of living up to these expectations and keep on controlling the [[SMK]] scene for years to come.

With his all-round [[SMK]] ability many people expect that he will keep on winning the [http://www.championnat-smk.org/ CDF]/CDE/CDM for years to come. With him being the man to beat now, he is in a totally different position then the one he was used to be in. It will be interesting to see if he can withstand this added pressure of living up to these expectations and keep on controlling the [[SMK]] scene for years to come.

== External Links ==

== External Links ==