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→SMK World Championship 2012
2012 was a monumental year for another reason, as Florent’s SMK World Championship winning streak was finally put to a halt. After a rocky start with an early elimination in the [[Time Trial]] tournament, Florent was unable to close the gap towards his all-time SMK rival, UK Champion [[Sami]], who became World Champion for the first time at the event. Although this was a huge disappointment for Florent, there were also personal accompishments worth celebrating, most notably his success in sustaining the GP gold medal streak he started 6 years ago, leading to his 7th consecutive gold medal for that mode.
2012 was a monumental year for another reason, as Florent’s SMK World Championship winning streak was finally put to a halt. After a rocky start with an early elimination in the [[Time Trial]] tournament, Florent was unable to close the gap towards his all-time SMK rival, UK Champion [[Sami]], who became World Champion for the first time at the event. Although this was a huge disappointment for Florent, there were also personal accompishments worth celebrating, most notably his success in sustaining the GP gold medal streak he started 6 years ago, leading to his 7th consecutive gold medal for that mode.
Unlike his main rival [[Sami]], Florent participated in the warm-up [[NTSC]] [[Time Trial]] tournament, organized one day prior to the start of the [[PAL]] competition. He got eliminated before the final, after bravely attempting several LB's on [[MC2]] and failing one of them. Florent enjoyed a promising start of the [[PAL]] [[Time Trial]] tournament, delivering one of the finest times ever driven at a Championship 1-try event, with a stunning sub 56" time on [[CI1]]. Shortly after desaster struck, as Florent was eliminated in the quarter finals due to two crashes on [[GV3]]. With [[Sami]] going on to obtain the gold medal, there was immediately a substantial gap to cross for Florent. Luck for Florent was not picking up, as in the MR tournament elimination phase he got the toughest bracket possible, with both [[Karel]] and [[Sami]] crossing his road to the final. Just like in the two previous years, his match with [[Karel]], this time in the quarter final, went all the way to the wire. In the deciding match on MC4, Florent pulled off a cunning backwards red in the first hairpin, stopping the Dutchman from progressing any further. Florent's was struggling to find form in his semi final clash with [[Sami]] and suffered a 9-4 loss against the rampant UK Champion. Florent did claim the bronze medal in the little final of MR, cruising to a 9-1 win versus the the surprise package of the CDM, the young prodigy[[Conor Wood]].
Unlike his main rival [[Sami]], Florent participated in the warm-up [[NTSC]] [[Time Trial]] tournament, organized one day prior to the start of the [[PAL]] competition. He got eliminated before the final, after bravely attempting several LB's on [[MC2]] and failing one of them. Florent enjoyed a promising start of the [[PAL]] [[Time Trial]] tournament, delivering one of the finest times ever driven at a Championship 1-try event, with a stunning sub 56" time on [[CI1]]. Shortly after desaster struck, as Florent was eliminated in the quarter finals due to two crashes on [[GV3]]. With [[Sami]] going on to obtain the gold medal, there was immediately a substantial gap to cross for Florent. Luck for Florent was not picking up, as in the MR tournament elimination phase he got drawn into the toughest bracket possible, with both [[Karel]] and [[Sami]] crossing his road to the final. Just like in the two previous years, his match with [[Karel]], this time in the quarter final, went all the way to the wire. In the deciding match on MC4, Florent pulled off a cunning backwards red in the first hairpin, stopping the Dutchman from progressing any further. Florent's was struggling to find form in his semi final clash with [[Sami]] and suffered a 9-4 loss against the rampant UK Champion. Florent did claim the bronze medal in the little final of MR, cruising to a 9-1 win versus the the surprise package of the CDM, the young prodigy[[Conor Wood]].
To make up for lost ground versus [[Sami]] in the overall ranking, Florent knew he had to do something special in the BM tournament. For the 6th year running he made the final four, though he did not obtain a medal after successive losses versus [[Geoffrey Label]] (semi final) and [[Drew Blumfield]] (little final). This was more than an acceptable performance for Florent, however it was not enough, as he did find himself struggling to maintain a top 5 spot in the overall rankings. Florent set the record straight on GP day with top notch driving that he himself described as the pinnacle of his SMK career. Among the performances was a sub 1'20 World Record on [[BC2]] 5-lap with 2 feathers, driven during the group stages. Notably, he did narrowly escape elimination in the quarter final, where he faced tough opposition of [[Ben Allen]]. Florent pulled off the 2-1 win, but of all the players he had faced during his 7 year GP winning streak, [[Ben Allen]] came the closest to stopping him. After this, Florent was unstoppable as he convincingly beat both [[Sami]] and [[Harold Christensen]] in the semi final and final respectively, to win the gold medal for the 7th year running. This was enough for Florent to jump all the way to the 2nd position in the overall rankings, but not enough to prevent [[Sami]] from gaining his first ever SMK World Champion title.
In the aftermath of the PAL event, Florent also participated in the [[NTSC]] SMK multiplayer tournament, reaching the final of MR, but losing it to [[Sami]]. Florent's lack of experience in [[NTSC]] multiplayer showed, as he was eliminated in the BM quarter final by [[Conor Wood]] and the GP semi final by [[Harold Christensen]]. Still his performances merited a third place in the NTSC multiplayer overall rankings, with [[Julien Holmiere]] and [[Sami Cetin]] grabbing second and first place respectively.
== Championship Medal Collection ==
== Championship Medal Collection ==