Team France has won the 2024 European Boys' Team Championship at Diamond Country Club.
The French side, who suffered an agonising extra-holes defeat to Sweden in last year's final, earned redemption in Austria 12 months on to lift the Jean-Louis Dupont Trophy.
France looked like contenders from the get-go this week, earning the number-one seeds in the stroke play qualifying. They then swept aside Switzerland in the quarter-finals (5.5-1.5), and Germany in the semis (4-1) to earn a second consecutive final appearance.
At the start of the day, France knew they would be competing for gold medals, but not who would stand in their way. A lengthy suspension of play due to thunderstorms in Austria on Friday meant that England's semi-final with Sweden had to be completed on Saturday morning.
England, looking for their first title since 2004, closed out their match quickly against the defending champions to join France in the final.
With not enough time to play the full 2-foursomes and 5-singles format on the closing day, the final was reduced to 1-foursome and 4-singles.
The contest for the championship was a tight one, with all matches going to at least the 16th hole, but France took first blood with a 3&2 win in the opening foursomes.
Kris Kim (ENG) responded soon after to make it 1-1, with a 3&2 win of his own against Arthur Carlier (FRA). Hugo Le Goff (FRA) took France within one point of the title on the 17th, and with Oscar Couilleau 3up with 3 to play behind him, the affair looked virtually over.
Oscar Lent fought back in the penultimate match to bring the scare back to 2-down however. And a 3-putt from Couilleau on the 17th green opened the door for Lent to take the match down the last, but a missed 4-footer for par sealed England's fate, giving France the title.
The win is France's first in the event since 2019, when they won the championship on home soil at Chantilly.
In the match for third place, Sweden earned a second consecutive podium finish in a comfortable 4-1 win over Germany.
More to follow...
