A new edition of the plancha world championship will be held in Hossegor from May 15 to 17, 2026. On this occasion, Sabrina and Thierry Barnabé, a couple residing in Auch (Gers), will try to win first place, which passed under their noses last year: they finished in second place. Encounter.
Next weekend will be marked by a special competition which will be held in Hossegor (Landes): the plancha world championship will be in full swing from May 15 to 17, 2026. Auch will be represented by Sabrina and Thierry Barnabé, a couple from Auscitains aged 56 and 57 years old, cooking and plancha enthusiasts.
A second participation for the couple, coming in second position last year, they hope to win the stake and the prizes that go with it. Last year, they were surprised by the quality of the winnings: “A thermos, a casserole and a bottle of 12-year-old whisky, and all this for all the members of each team on the podium”, recalls Thierry.
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On May 15, 16 and 17, those who call themselves the BarnaBs are aiming for the jackpot: the Le Marquier planchas. The French brand, a barbecue specialist, is organizing the event and on this occasion, the winners win good quality planchas, which would not be a luxury for the two Gersois. “Ours is rather old, it’s more than 15 years old… It’s the plancha that my father bought, but I would change it.”
Family and friendly cuisine
Among the Barnabés, the passion for plancha and cooking runs in the family, but in their relationship, it was Thierry who discovered it first. “Almost every Sunday, we gathered around a family meal with my parents, my brother and my sister.” A tradition which extended to the competition with his brother, during the 1st French plancha championship, on June 24 and 25, 2023, in Nogaro.
This first competition took them to 4th place and even boosted their ambitions. “That finally convinced him that it was cooking that was beating him. And as a result, my brother retrained, he is a cook now,” explains Thierry.
Wanting to continue to share this pleasure of plancha, the first world championships in 2025 came at just the right time. However, Thierry’s brother is not available, so his wife, Sabrina, takes over. And jackpot! “We came second, so you shouldn’t change a winning team.”
Between rivalry and desire to profit
Facing them, their rivals, those who won the 2025 edition: Barbecue Way of Life. Their team name, but also their channel name, the two friends from Bordeaux are YouTubers specializing in cooking and barbecue. The videographers with almost 37,000 subscribers are showing up again this year, so the objective for BarnaB remains the same: beat them and win the title.
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To do this, they will have to pass three different tests. “For the first, in general, these are tapas that must be cooked under certain conditions.” After the jury’s vote, they can access the next stage: the “mystery box”. “We have to use all the unknown ingredients to create a recipe. Last time, it was a kind of rougail sausage.” Finally the final: “Three teams are selected and have access to the grocery store to create whatever they want.”
The objective is to win, of course, but without being too competitive, as Thierry says: “We don’t stake our lives on the plancha!” For them, it is above all a moment of pleasure and relaxation. The competition takes place within the Good Food Good Mood festival, with culinary workshops, activities and concerts. Good humor is in the spotlight with a backdrop of rivalry, which, we hope, will see the Gers team win.
/2026/04/14/69ddfc19e22ed162401068.jpeg "“ChaO”: the colorful and whimsical Jury Prize at the Annecy Animated Film Festival")
