“We will try to get the medal”, the ambitions of Félix Lebrun before the World Team Championships

Les frères Lebrun, prêts pour de nouvelles aventures en Corée du Sud. MAXPPP – Wang Dongzhen

Le Montpelliérain s'est envolé avec son frère pour la Corée du Sud où se déroulent les Championnats du monde par équipes (16-25 février). 

"We're going to try to get a medal" at the World Team Championships (February 16-25 in South Korea), declared Monday the new sensation of world table tennis Félix Lebrun, 17 years old, assuring not "too much" thinking about the Paris Olympics "for the moment". "The Olympic Games are a long time away, it's in six months (…) For the moment in any case I don't think about it too much, it's rather everything (the world) around me&amp ;quot;, underlined the youngest of the Lebrun brothers, European No.1 and world No.6 in his discipline, during a meeting with journalists Monday in Tremblay-en-France (Seine-Saint-Denis).

A way to relieve the pressure, and the expectations born from the phenomenal rise of the young table tennis player from Montpellier, whom some already see on the Olympic podium, which would be a first as an individual for a French since Alésien Jean-Philippe Gatien, Olympic vice-champion in Barcelona in 1992.

A revenge to take

"The World Championships (team), it's an event super important, so we're really focused on that", continued Félix Lebrun. Félix Lebrun, his eldest Alexis Lebrun (20 years old, 22nd in the world) and Simon Gauzy (29 years old, 30th), will form the backbone of the French men's team in Busan, quarter-finalist in the previous World Team Championships in October 2022 in Chengdu.

Also read: "When Félix is ​​in front of me during a match, I tell myself that it would be better if he wasn't there" : the Lebrun brothers take part in a few days of the World Championships

"In Chengdu (…), we came out in the quarter-finals leading two (sets to) zero, so a little frustrated", recalled Félix Lebrun, who was then at the start of his meteoric rise. "This is a great revenge, we want to get there and perform as much as possible", he added .

He will then have time to plan for the Games. "Paris, for the moment, we are far from it, so for the moment, I am not setting a precise objective because six months , it's huge. Six months ago, I wasn't where I am today. So frankly, I don't really set any goals for myself. Above all, I want to progress as much as possible until Paris and continue to perform as I am doing at the moment", he concluded .