Anna Maillard - 2017 World Pétanque Champion | Player Profile

Anna Maillard - Quick Facts

France's 2017 World Champion and Six-Time World Medalist

Anna Maillard is one of the most decorated players in French women's pétanque, with a World Championship gold medal, three World Championship silvers, two World Championship bronzes, and four European Championship titles spread across a career that began at age 11. A right-handed pointer and middle player, she has played for four clubs across three departments, taken on a technical advisor role within the French federation alongside her playing career, and returned to the national team in 2026 as part of a leadership refresh for France's women's squad.

Career Overview

Maillard grew up playing pétanque from age 11 and came through the junior ranks with a European Espoirs (under-23) triplette title in 2013, playing alongside Audrey Bandiera, Morgane Bacon and Anaïs Lapoutge. She started her senior career at ABC Mourenx and Pasteur de Pau in the Pyrénées-Atlantiques before moving to Cahors Sport Pétanque in the Lot in 2009, and her results at senior level arrived almost immediately: a World Championship triplette final in 2009 (with Audrey Bandiera, Angélique Colombet and Marie-Christine Virebayre), a World bronze in 2011, and her first European gold in 2010, winning the triplette title with Ludivine d'Isidoro, Colombet and Virebayre - the same year she won the Coupe des Confédérations with the same trio.

Moving to Gourdon Pétanque in the Lot in 2013, Maillard added a second World Championship final that year, plus a second European gold in 2012 (with Colombet, Nelly Peyré and Marie-Angèle Germain), a first French Championship title in 2010 (Triplette, with Josiane Sagaz and Nadège Baussian), and a World Games bronze in doublette in 2017 at Wrocław, alongside Caroline Bourriaud. Her breakthrough came later that year: World Champion in women's triplette in 2017, beating Madagascar 13-6 in the final alongside Angélique Colombet, Charlotte Darodes and Caroline Bourriaud - a result the French pétanque press described as ending a 23-year title drought for France in the event.

Maillard added a third European triplette gold in 2016 (with Ludivine d'Isidoro, Angélique Colombet and Cindy Peyrot) and a fourth in 2018 at Palavas-les-Flots (with Colombet, Darodes and Daisy Frigara), while also collecting a second French Championship title in 2018 (Doublette, with Nadège Baussian). At the 2021 World Championship she reached a third World final, taking silver in women's triplette alongside Darodes, Peyrot and Emma Picard, and in 2019 she added a second World bronze in triplette with Bandiera, Sandrine Herlem and Frigara.

By the mid-2020s Maillard had moved to US La Boule Tropézienne in Saint-Tropez, joining Peyrot and Sandrine Poinsot to form what French pétanque media has called a "tropézien trio" within the Bleues setup. The three lost consecutive French Triplette Championship finals in 2024 and 2025, but broke through in doublette: in July 2025 at Saint-Yrieix-sur-Charente, Maillard and Peyrot won the French Women's Doublette title, beating Angélique Colombet and Aurélia Blazquez Ruiz 13-0 in the final - Maillard's third French Championship title. The pair also won the Passion Pétanque Française (PPF) final together. In 2026 Maillard and Colombet teamed up at the Masters de Pétanque tour, beating Malhaury Perrin and Apolline Garrien 13-7 in the women's event, while at the July 2026 French Doublette Championship, Maillard and Peyrot lost a close 12-13 semi-final to eventual champions Audrey Bandiera and Nelly Peyré.

Technical Advisor and Return to the National Team

Alongside her playing career, Maillard has held coaching and administrative roles at the French Pétanque and Provençal Game Federation (FFPJP), where she has been named a national technical advisor (conseillère technique nationale) and contributed to structuring player development programs. In October 2025 she guided France's Espoirs (under-23) women's team, alongside Philippe Chesneau, to a bronze medal at the European Championships.

In January 2026, sports director Philippe Quintais announced Maillard's return to the senior Bleues squad, alongside Angélique Colombet, after concluding that the French women's team lacked leadership following the 2025 World Championship on home soil in Douai. "Concerning Anna Maillard, her duties have been reorganized within the French Pétanque and Provençal Game Federation so there is no conflict of interest," Quintais explained, adding: "I am very happy she is joining us, and I am sure we will really need her." Quintais specifically pointed to the on-court chemistry already established between Maillard, Peyrot and Poinsot at La Boule Tropézienne as a foundation for France's 2026 European Championship campaigns in individual, women's doublette, mixed doublette and triplette events.

Playing Style and Equipment

Maillard plays right-handed as a pointer and middle player, valued for consistency in positions that require precise, sustained pointing across long tournaments rather than a single spectacular discipline. She has played with Obut RCX boules since joining Team Obut in 2011, citing the smooth, striation-free stainless-steel finish and the model's shock-absorbing performance across varied playing surfaces. Away from the boulodrome, she has described herself as "discreet" by nature, and cites backpack travel, cooking and music among her other interests.

Achievements and Honors

• World Champion: Women's Triplette (2017)
• World Championship Silver: Women's Triplette (2009, 2013, 2021)
• World Championship Bronze: Women's Triplette (2011, 2019)
• European Champion: Women's Triplette (2010, 2012, 2016, 2018)
• French Champion: Women's Triplette (2010), Women's Doublette (2018, 2025)
• Coupe des Confédérations champion, Triplette (2010)
• World Games bronze, Doublette (2017, Wrocław)
• Mediterranean Games bronze, Doublette (2013)
• National technical advisor, French Pétanque and Provençal Game Federation

Legacy

Anna Maillard's six World Championship medals and four European titles place her among the most consistently successful players in French women's pétanque, and her 2017 gold ended more than two decades without a World title for France in women's triplette. Her return to the Bleues in 2026, after years balancing playing with a technical advisor role at the federation, and her on-court partnership with Cindy Peyrot and Sandrine Poinsot at US La Boule Tropézienne, suggest her influence on French women's pétanque is far from finished.