The French men’s team, led by the Lebrun brothers and Simon Gauzy, won the European team title by dominating Romania (3-0) this Sunday, October 19th, in Zadar, Croatia. The French table tennis players succeed the generation of Jean-Philippe Gatien, which had won the previous European title in 1998.
Twenty-seven years later, Les Bleus are finally back on top of Europe. The wait was long for French table tennis, but who else but the Lebrun siblings and their teammate Simon Gauzy, already brilliant at the Paris 2024 Olympics which concluded with a bronze medal, to continue writing their names in the history of French table tennis?
At the end of a perfectly controlled final that lasted barely an hour, the French were first launched into orbit by Alexis Lebrun (22 years old), who dominated the young Iulian Chirita from start to finish (11-2, 11-6, 11-7). His younger brother Félix made the victory last a bit longer against Eduard Ionescu, who managed to take a set from him before also succumbing to a phenomenon far too difficult to contain (11-3, 9-11, 11-5, 11-4).
The veteran of the group (30 years old) was then tasked with clinching the long-awaited title against Ovidiu Ionescu (36 years old), an experienced opponent. This final duel was the most contested of the three, but Gauzy could not let the crown slip away from France and managed to close it out after a failed third set (11-9, 11-9, 3-11, 11-3) which ultimately had little impact, as Les Bleus completely dominated this final and the entire competition.
Lebrun-Gauzy, a generation already on top
The team had already shown their intent by eliminating the highly favored German team the day before in the semi-final (3-1), before sweeping aside the Romanians, the surprise finalists who had knocked out the defending Swedish champions in the quarter-finals.
Les Bleus further cement their dominance on the continental stage, following the titles won in 2024 by Alexis Lebrun in singles and then in doubles with his brother at the European Top 16, and Félix Lebrun’s singles title at the 2023 European Games. Ranked as the second nation by the European Table Tennis Union (ETTU) behind Sweden before the competition began, France also holds the second world ranking behind China according to the International Table Tennis Federation (ITTF).
This success in Zadar is above all the first since 1998 and the triumph of the generation of Jean-Philippe Gatien, Patrick Chila, and Damien Éloi—an eternity ago. The French trio had already ended a collective 24-year drought by winning the bronze medal in the team event at the 2024 Olympics.