Thibaud Briet: There is nowhere else I’d rather be in January

“I don’t quite look back on my career, usually. I look ahead more than I look back,” he says. “But when we got the bronze medal last year at the World Championship, all my family was in the stands and I took a few minutes to reflect. Seven years before, I was playing in Rouen in the fifth French division, and now there I was.”

Unfortunately for him, Thibaud Briet was not selected in France’s team that won the title at the EHF EURO 2024. Nantes’ player has had an on-and-off relationship with the national team so far. If the EHF EURO 2022 and the 2023 World Championship were all about discovering the big stage, 2024 was “a very disappointing year”.

Briet did not make the cut for either the EHF EURO 2024 or the Paris 2024 Olympics. “I think that these two events can be explained because I had problems with my knee throughout that year, but it was the ultimate kick in the butt I needed in order to push me to do even more.”

So, for the whole of January 2024, Thibaud Briet sat on his couch, training every day in Nantes, while his teammates were cruising to the gold medal in the LANXESS arena. “I was really happy for them, there was no bitterness at all on my side. I was their number one fan in front of my TV. But I don’t want to live through such an experience again,” he says.

These months of January, though, can be quite hard to handle for young players. Games every two days over the course of one month, with the obligation to deliver, day in and day out. “I remember in 2022, when I played the EHF EURO for the first time, I spent maybe 20 minutes on the court. But I was in bed at 23:00 every single night, even on game nights. I was exhausted,” he recalls.

So what does he do, now, to cope with the pressure that such a competition implies? “I guess it comes with the experience. These competitions are crazy because you have to train harder than ever to prove you can have your place in the team. And then you play, and if you are not good, you might not play again for three or four days,” decrypts Thibaud Briet, before telling us how his state of mind joining the national team is completely different to the one he has when he plays with his club, HBC Nantes. “In your club, responsibilities are more defined, whereas in the national team, things can shift pretty quickly.”

As the coaching staff got thicker for all the major teams, including France, mental preparation has become a key asset and something that has been worked on in the last couple of years.

“Because, in the end, I think the EHF EURO is tougher mentally than physically,” says Briet, who knows that the title defence will be talked about a lot in January. “Of course, I want my team to remain on top of Europe, but I guess this can also add a lot of discussion about it. We will have to handle it right now, because it can also add a lot of pressure.”

But rest assured, pressure or not, Thibaud Briet would not, for a million years, swap his place at the EHF EURO 2026 for a place at home training with Nantes’ B team. “There is nowhere else I would rather spend my January!” he concludes.

Photos © kolektiff