Lucas Pellas has endured a rough couple of months at handball’s highest level. At January’s EHF EURO 2024 semi-final, Sweden were a whisker away from beating France and reaching the final but a controversial final throw in normal time killed a chance at claiming back-to-back golds.
Three months later, he starred for Montpellier in an astonishing nine-goal win over Kiel in the Champions League quarter-final first leg.
One week later, he led the team in scoring again but everything fell apart and Kiel won by 10.
“It’s been a tough season for sure. I think I’ve forgotten the emotional aspect of the season that I’ve had as I’ve been mentally working on it.
“The game in Kiel is going to haunt me for a long time, as is the France game but I think it does add a little bit more fuel for me to the fire to make sure I don’t get that feeling again. It’s a tough feeling and I don’t want to experience it again.
Mental strength
Those games may feel like a long time ago for us as handball fans and it pulls into sharp focus the fact that these Olympic Games are on the back of a long old season for elite players, practically making it the 13th month of their campaign.
“It’s a weird situation to be competing in the middle of the summer and try to be mentally ready to compete at the highest level. I remember in Tokyo, it was, it was very special for me to be ready mentally, you have played a lot of games with the club in the Champions League and in the French league. So to come here and be ready. Again. It’s tough. But I think with the experience of Tokyo we know how to be more mentally ready than the last time.”
Another major difference to Tokyo for Pellas is the freedom without COVID restrictions, allowing him to enjoy the Olympic spirit guilt-free.
“It’s nice that you can go watch other sports and support the other Swedish athletes. I think that’s also one of the biggest differences that we were missing out on in Tokyo. So I’m happy to be here to be able to support the other athletes – we have a lot of golfers in our team and Ludvig Åberg hopefully has a big chance of a medal, so we hope to be able to catch him and watch him make some good swings.”
Balance in the squad
With just 14 players in the Olympic matchday squad, compared to the 16 we’re used to nowadays, coaches have been trying to find ways to streamline their teams and the wing positions are those most often trimmed. 11 of the 16 men’s squads have decided to go with just one player on at least one wing.
But that is not the case with Sweden, which Pellas is certainly grateful for, combining with Hampus Wanne for one of the tournament’s most deadly left wing pairings, thanks in part to coach Glenn Solberg’s approach of selecting players that can play both attack and defence, saving the need to sacrifice some positions to make room for one-way specialists.
“We have a lot of players that can play both in attack and defence, which is the philosophy that Glenn has, so I think for us as left wings in Sweden, we are lucky that we have a lot of attackers that also can play very good defence.
“If you look into the future, it feels like a lot of teams are trying to make it to that point where you have a lot of plays that can play both ways. And I know in Sweden, we are working with the young players to be able to do that.
“I’m very happy to be here with Hampus, who is one of the best left wings in the world. We played a lot of championships together, so now we are very good friends, enjoy good communication with each other and help each other out. And I think also over the course of a long tournament, you play every second day and normally we share every other game – it’s very important for our bodies after a long season.
Despite living in the south of France, Pellas feels the Olympics here in Paris is more like a bubble than a normal French experience, not that he minds it, helping to translate for his teammates and contemplating the short journey home to Montpellier after their tournament ends.
And despite the haunting memories of the season gone by, he admits that it has been a good one on a personal level.
“I’m excited to see what we can do this tournament. Hopefully, we’re going to be going home with a medal this time and then I think it’s going to be worth all the setbacks.”
Sweden’s men open their Paris 2024 campaign with a repeat of the EHF EURO 2024 bronze medal game against Germany, with throw-off on Saturday at 19:00 CEST.