Benoît Brunet was born on 22 July 1991 in Tourcoing, near the French-Belgian border, and began rowing at age 16. Originally a member of the Aviron Boulonnais club, he moved to the Saint-Quentin rowing club in 2017. He excelled early, and his achievements earned him a place in the Pôle France et Espoirs training centre in Nancy. By 2009, he was already competing in his first World Championship events with France’s Junior team.

Though he rowed with Sébastien Lenté in coxless pair events between 2011 and 2014, Benoît was stronger in the coxed eight category. He has been selected frequently for the French national team and went with the team to the 2016 World University Rowing Championships in Poznan, Poland, where they won a silver medal.

In December of that year, he joined the SNCF Athletes programme.

Bronze medallist in the coxless four (M4-) at the 2023 European Athletics Championships, Benoît Brunet was named best rower 2023 by the Association des Internationaux d'Aviron. After winning yet another bronze medal with the French team in April 2024 at the European Championships in Szeged, Hungary, Benoît Brunet was selected by the French Rowing Federation and he will compete with the coxless four crew at the Paris 2024 Olympic Games.