When the athletes took to the start line at WTCS Bermuda, the moment was even more special than usual for Jeanne Lehair.
Unlike the rest of the 2022 season, she did not race in the ITU tri-suit. Instead, for the first time, she wore the colours of Luxembourg.
Lehair said, “I had been waiting for this moment for months now so I was really happy to finally race with the lion on my suit!”
For a year, she had waited after making the change from racing for France to Luxembourg. Lehair discovered she had Luxembourgish roots in 2019 and we asked her what made her decide to switch to Luxembourg.
The opportunity, she said, was too good to ignore. Now she will “be able to live my career at 100% without being blocked by quotas of athlete on races. I’m a lot more free on my calendar than with the French team and it’s easier to organise my season and so to perform”.
She also lives only 50km from the Luxembourg border. As one of the most expensive countries in the world, it is common for hundreds of thousands of people that work in Luxembourg to live in neighbouring France, Germany or Belgium.
As a result, it is quite easy to be connected to Luxembourg in the area. Lehair also added that, “since I’m racing the international circuits, I’m often traveling with the Luxembourgish team so I felt like I was already half in the team”.
Luxembourg also has strong young athletes like Eva Daniels on the team. By adding Lehair, there could be a chance for them to qualify a mixed team relay at the Paris Olympics in 2024.
As it happens, Lehair has also been nominated for Luxembourg’s Athlete of the Year award. She said it was an “honour” to be nominated but also that “I think I still have a lot to prove, so let’s wait for the next seasons to win anything.”
At Bermuda, Lehair finished 19th in a strong performance. Prior to that, she finished 8th at WTCS Montreal which is her best result in the Series.
“Before the race (Montreal) I would have said I preferred Olympic distance. But this season I did really well on short races so for now I’m 100% a short distance girl!”
Across a year in which she has raced a lot, Lehair’s best performance might have been at the World Military Games in June. As a member of the French military, that was the last time she represented France in triathlon before her change to Luxembourg.
She represented the 3e régiment de Hussards and it gave Lehair a chance to explore the military environment more than usual. On the sporting side, she was happy with her performances in both the individual and relays. The individual was her first Olympic distance race in almost 3 years and it was “nice to race without pressure”. The team of Aurelien Raphael, Nathan Lessmann, Lola Bachet and Lehair also won the relay at the Games.
As Lehair’s last international race as a French athlete, “it was special and I spent good time with my team mates”.
On the note of team mates, Lehair is part of what might be one of the best female training groups in the world of triathlon. She has been training under Paulo Sousa since November 2020 and trains with a stellar group athletes including Taylor Spivey, Natalie Van Coevorden, Yuko Takahashi and Miriam Casillas Garcia.
“It’s a really good balance! Serious during training but still fun and relaxing when the job is done! At the moment, I couldn’t expect a better environment to train.”
Moving away to join the group was a big life change. The only drawback, according to Lehair, is the time spent away from home and her dog!
With such a talented group, the training is often intense. When asked what the hardest session she remembers doing, she said:
“I think the type of session I struggled the most was the paceline on the bike. In all the other training you can adapt your pace to your shape on the day. But when it’s paceline you are with a few girls and you have to do all you can to stay in the wheel and if possible to take your turns… until you drop!”
After training with some of the best year-round, this week she will be racing them for the last time in 2022. In Abu Dhabi, there will be much to be decided. For example, Lehair currently sits in 28th place in the Series and could rise several places with a performance like Montreal. After a long year, she has one last big performance to do until she can relax with her dog once more.
With the lion on her suit, though, Jeanne Lehair will be one to watch for years to come.
