Félix Lebrun
Félix Lebrunborn on à Montpellier (Hérault), is a table tennis French. In October 2023, he is the 14e player - and 1er French - au world ranking3.
He is the younger brother ofAlexis Lebrun4. Félix is described as a "phenomenon of French table tennis" along with his older brother.5.
He won a gold medal in the final of the 2023 European Games at just 16, the first major title of his career. He follows in the footsteps of some of the biggest names in European table tennis, Dimitrij Ovtcharov and Timo Boll.
Biography
Training
He grew up in a table tennis family environment with his older brother Alexissurrounded by his father Stéphane Lebrun, a former no 7 Frenchmen and his uncle Christophe Legoûtformer no 14 worldwide5,6,7. He started playing table tennis at the tender age of 3 and quickly adopted a very good style. penholder socket which is used very little in the world8,9. Initially trained by his father, he continued his sporting activities as a student athlete at the end of primary school.10.
Along with his brother, he has had an atypical career. In fact, they never went through the very high-level federal structures such as theINSEP or the Pôle France in Nantes. They have been training at the Montpellier Pôle Espoir since they started out and have never left.11.
They have a whole staff around them, with Nathanael Molin, their coach, and Jérémy Surault, their physical trainer. As Jérémy Surault puts it: "We're inspired by the Chinese, but we can't copy a country with such a different culture, where people eat with their hips open... We have to find another way of doing things.11.
He holds his racket penholder socket. According to him, the wrist is freer to counter his opponents and he discovered this technique by watching the professional table tennis player play. Chen Jian10.
Career
Young people's pathway
He won numerous titles in the youth categories, including French champion minime, cadet then junior. He also made his mark at European and world level, winning the Eurominichamps.12the European championships cadets in singles, doubles and teams13 and is sacred world champion cadet doubles with Sora Matshushima (ja)14.
Year 2022
It becomes French champion 2022 double with Laurent Cova and failed to reach the final of the mixed doubles with Leïli Mostafavi15,16. He did extremely well in the individual competition, losing in the semi-final to his brother. Alexis Lebrunfuture winner of the competition17,18.
He put in a number of performances on the world circuit, including his victory in the no 26 worldwide Chuang Chih-Yuan19 which enable it to be classified no 70 in July 2022.
During the world team championships 2022 à Chengduit beats Dang Qiuclassified 9e at this time20. The French team's run came to an end in the quarter-finals against Germany, when they lost 2-3.
He lost in the men's semi-final of the European Championships 2022 with his brother Alexis Lebrun against the pair Gardos-Habesohn. As a result, he won his first bronze medal at European level.21 and became the youngest medallist at a European championship.
Year 2023
At the WTT Star Contender in Goa 2023, it will be eliminated successively, Lee Sang-su, Truls Moregardh and Korean Jang Woo-jin. He finally lost in the semi-final to the Chinese player Lin Shidong22. This is his first major performance on the world circuit.
In March 2023, at French senior championshipsHe was runner-up in the French singles championship. In the final he lost to his brother Alexis by 4 sets to 123.
Le he won his first individual international title in the men's table tennis singles tournament at the European Games à Krakow beating Portugal's Marcos Freitas24. He became the first French table tennis player to win the men's singles title.25. Two days after his individual title, he won the bronze medal in the team competition comprisingAlexis Lebrun, Can Akkuzu, Simon Gauzy against Portugal26,27.
In September 2023, at European team championships à Malmöhe won a bronze medal with the French team28. Their run came to an end in the semi-finals with a 3-1 defeat by Sweden, the hosts and winners of the competition.
At the WTT Star Contender in Lanzhouhe takes his revenge against Lin Shidong in the last 16 and then eliminated the surprising American Ma Jinbao in the quarter-finals.29. He finally lost in the semi-final of the tournament to the Chinese player Ma Long. With his brother AlexisHe won the men's doubles title. This was the pair's first victory on the international circuit, and it enabled them to move up the rankings. 5e worldwide30.
Club courses
He plays for MTT from a very young age and has played in the 1 team in pro B for the 2022-2023 season31. He did, however, have a brief spell as a member of the 1 Istres TT for the 2021-2022 season, where he was the league's top performer at mid-season32,33.
He became French champion of pro B with his club for the 2022-2023 season. The Alliance Nîmes-Montpellier has thus reached the pro A.
