Victor Wembanyama in Paris: what did French sports stars do when they were 20?

The NBA is coming to Paris. With his San Antonio Spurs team, Victor Wembanyama faces the Indiana Pacers at the Bercy Arena on Thursday January 23 and Saturday January 25 in two American basketball championship matches relocated to France.

The French basketball player, who turned 21 on January 4, has panicked all the precociousness meters since his departure to the United States in the summer of 2023. Victor Wembanyama was one of the youngest players to reach 50 points scored in a match , faster than legend Stephen Curry to total 200 three-pointers.

If he impresses everyone, the basketball player is not the first French athlete to shine so early. At her age, Laure Manaudou, Kylian Mbappé, Teddy Riner and Léon Marchand were already big names in their discipline.

► 2007: Laure Manaudou at the peak of her career

The year she turned 21, Laure Manaudou won two gold medals at the world championships in Melbourne. She also added two silver medals and a bronze medal. A quasi-detail on an immense track record, built since 2001.

At 21, she already has 49 national and 19 international medals in all competitions. Above all, she has around her neck a gold medal in the 400 meters at the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, won when she was not even 18 years old.

► 2010: Teddy Riner, youngest world champion in history

Since his debut in the French team at 17, Teddy Riner has reigned over his discipline. At just 18 years old, he became European champion for the first time and won his first world title the same year, which made him the youngest European and world champion in the history of his category. Then he went on to win titles: Rotterdam in 2009 and Tokyo in 2010. The year he turned 21 also marked the beginning of his ten years of invincibility.

Only one disappointment at the start of his career: third place at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. Given among the favorites in the heavyweight category, he lost in the third round of his first Olympics. Drafted, Teddy Riner still won his first Olympic medal, in bronze.

► 2017: the breakthrough before Antoine Dupont’s injury

Today, Antoine Dupont is considered one of the best rugby players in the world. But at 21 years old, during the 2017-2018 season, he is still only at the beginning of his career. He has been playing since the start of the 2017 school year in the Toulouse jersey and has just made his first selections for the French team, during the Six Nations Tournament.

Brilliant arrival in Toulouse and first start for the Blues against the All Blacks promise him a great 2017-2018 season. At the start of 2018, he injured his knee, which ended his season.

► 2020: a World Cup at 19 for Kylian Mbappé

Barely 21 years old and already in the history of French football. Kylian Mbappé already has an incredible track record and statistics in 2020: three French championships, a top place in the Champions League and PSG scorers rankings and a victory in the World Cup.

Its precocity was also praised in 2018 by France Football who awarded him the first Kopa trophy, rewarding the best prospect of the year. The French footballer also made history by becoming one of the biggest transfers in PSG history before he turned 20.

► 2023: Léon Marchand, the heir of Michael Phelps

Léon Marchand did not wait for the Paris Games to reign over French swimming. At 16, he won his first French champion title and became the first to be crowned before turning 17. Before he turned 21, he had already won ten national titles.

At the age of 20, he had already participated in the Tokyo Olympic Games (without shining) and began to accumulate world medals. In 2022, he became world champion in the 200 and 400 meter medley, two titles that he retained a year later. He even won gold in the 200 meter butterfly in 2023.

When he left in 2020 to train in the United States with the legend’s former coach Michael Phelps, many saw him becoming his successor. With his four gold medals won in Paris, he is on the right track to achieve this.