Table tennis: Félix Lebrun wins the Europe Smash in Malmö and becomes world number 2

He is a star, a headliner of French sport: Félix Lebrun achieved an XXL feat on Sunday August 16 by winning the European Smash final in table tennis in Malmö, Sweden, against the Japanese Tomokazu Harimoto, four sets to one. Never seen before in the history of French ping-pong.

He achieved what no French table tennis player had achieved until then: Félix Lebrun will forever remain the first Frenchman to register his name on the list of winners of a major Smash and to fully understand the scope of the feat, it is the tennis equivalent of a Grand Slam title.

This coronation will allow Félix Lebrun to move from fifth to second place in the world even though he is only 19 years old. Happy, the table tennis player has a calm triumph: "For me, this represents a lot. Even if the Grand Smash has only been created for a short time, I want to say that what matters most is to win competitions at this level, like in Chongqing, and to string together performances at a very high world level. So I am really happy with that and, of course, becoming world number 2 is also a great source of pride."

An outstanding competitor

Jean-Philippe Gatien, the Olympic vice-champion in 1992, is impressed by the maturity and progress made by the young Montpellier resident. He welcomes “the physical dimension that he is acquiring, and this technical facility which allows him to expend less energy”. For him, this allows him “to gain lucidity on important points and on money time”. “When we add to that this unparalleled competitive mentality that he has had since he was little, it still forms the ingredients of a great champion who, I hope, will be rewarded with a supreme title in the future.”

Even if he takes the measure of his achievement, Félix Lebrun does not consider this victory as an end in itself: "At the moment, it is a consecration because it is the fruit of a lot of daily efforts, on my part obviously, but also of a whole team around me who works to help me develop. But at the same time, it is only part of the path towards the objectives that we want to achieve."

Full success all the same for Félix Lebrun in Malmö, because this victory in singles came the day after his coronation in doubles alongside his brother Alexis. This success will allow the French pair to return to the top of the world rankings, while doubles will once again be on the program for the Olympic Games in two years in Los Angeles.