2025 will be a year full of events for Quentin with the Euro (in May, in Yerevan), the World Games (in August, in Chengdu) and the World Cup (in November, in Cairo). So many appointments for which he must first and foremost qualify.
“The season will be long and intense, but I am ready to tackle it. It was more complicated last year following my defeat in the second round of the World Cup whereas, until then, 2023 had been almost perfect. I was world No. 2, one of the favorites with the Egyptian Abdelaziz… And I lost very early, too early, in the competition. I suffered a repercussion from this failure. And then, I was unlucky in losing myself in Paris, Antalya and Cairo on details. But I managed to re-mobilize myself to feel at my best again in Casablanca.”
After a final training course at Loverval with the Danish and Hungarian national teams, Quentin Mahauden intends to show what he’s made of from this Friday, in Paris (Premier League), a very tough competition where nothing less than the top 10 in the world, including the famous Abdelaziz.
“It’s important because qualifications for the Games and the World Cup are based on ranking. You therefore have to take points to ensure your place. I would also like to recover the famous “golden judogi”which I wore last year. It’s honorary, but significant of the regularity that we offer during the season. But be careful: having fallen back to sixth in the world, I could come across one of the top four in the group stage…”
gull“I prefer to fight at 4 p.m. than at 9 a.m., even if I sleep and eat well in competition.”
Victim of a torn calf in December, Quentin had a necessarily more relaxed holiday period.
-“I didn’t train in karate for two weeks because I could barely walk. Let alone jump. But I started again and everything is fine now. And as for weight, I’m at peace, despite my size of 1 .89 m, I approach this competition with optimism, especially since they have resumed the schedules for 2023. You should know that in 2024, the international federation had scheduled my category on Friday, at 9 a.m., which is what it is. forced me to “kill time” between the group stage and the quarter-finals, in the early evening. This year, it will be 4 p.m. and everything will happen quickly. This schedule also allows me to not have to wake up. at dawn and eat normally at noon. Generally, in competition, I sleep and eat well except very early in the morning.
Finally, only the departure of his coach, Salah Mesnaoui, for the Moroccan national team affects Brabançon a little.
“We achieved a lot of results together. In Paris, it will therefore be Luca (Costa) who will take over. I get along well with him and I take it as an advantage. Either way, I’m in Paris to win. I want to show who’s boss!”
Luca Costa (karate): “Belgium is among the world’s top!”
