VERNOUX. Water polo prodigy Thomas Vernoux shines with his club Marseille as well as with the Blues. Biography, achievements, family, discover who the French polo player is.
Thomas Vernoux was born on March 21, 2002 in Marseille, in the South of France, in a family focused on water polo. After trying judo and tennis, he also turned to this demanding discipline, which requires being a very good swimmer but also integrating the codes of team sports. Born in the Phocaean city, it was quite natural for him to start at the Cercle des Nageurs de Marseille, at the age of seven, in the junior water polo team. A phenomenon of precocity, it would only take him a few years to start with the first team of the CNM, since he played his first professional match at the age of 13.
Thomas Vernoux celebrated his first selection for the French team a year later, at just 15 years old, even before signing his first professional contract with the Marseille club at 16. Now 22 years old, he is already over sixty now. It must be said that the youngster has an impressive size (1m96 for over 105 kilos) and wreaks havoc at the forefront of the CNM and Les Bleus attack. “He’s a bit like our Mbappé, our Wembanyama of French water polo,” explained the captain of the French team Ugo Croustillat to RMCSport, during the last world championships held in Doha in February. A competition finished with Les Bleus in 4th place (the best result in their history, editor’s note), after beating the Hungarians, reigning world champions, in the quarter-finals.
Described as an “alien” by his coach Florian Bruzzo, Thomas Vernoux does not want to stop there. He aims to become the best player in the world and does everything he can to do so off the pitch, while taking the time to maintain other passions, such as the piano and astronomy, and to follow a specialised course in engineering school at Polytechnique Marseille. But in 2024, Thomas Vernoux’s main objective is of course the Paris Olympic Games. The men’s water polo team has not won gold since the Paris Olympics in… 1924 and a medal since the Amsterdam Olympics in 1928. It was also the first French team sport to win gold in the modern history of the Games. To succeed the 1924 team, the French team will be able to rely on its Marseille prodigy.
What is Thomas Vernoux’s track record?
Within the Cercle des nageurs de Marseille, Thomas Vernoux has already filled his trophy cabinet. The French polo player has won the French championship seven times as well as the Eurocup in 2019. A historic feat for French water polo, since it was the first success of a French club in a European competition. With the French team, his record is still blank, even if he hopes that will change this summer during the Olympic Games.
Water polo, a family affair for Thomas Vernoux
If Thomas Vernoux turned to water polo in his childhood, the influence of his family certainly has something to do with it. His uncle Yann Vernoux won 8 French championship titles with the CNM and has 244 selections for the French men’s water polo team between 1996 and 2007. Yann Vernoux’s daughter, Ema Vernoux (20 years old), plays for Olympic Nice Natation but also for the French women’s team. Thomas Vernoux finally plays with his cousin, Romain Marion-Vernoux (24 years old), for the French team and in Marseille.