Already no stranger to the winner’s podium, swapping allegiance – from France to Luxembourg – appears to have taken Jeanne Lehair to a higher plane. Here's everything you need to know about the Luxembourger…
Who is Jeanne Lehair?
A multisport competitor since the age of seven, Metz-born Jeanne Lehair is another highly successful graduate from that impeccable French production line of first-class triathlete, the mini-industry that’s brought us the likes of Vincent Luis, Cassandre Beaugrand, Léonie Périault, Léo Bergere and Dorian Coninx.
A serial frequenter of race podiums, her career has largely been an avalanche of medals, starting with silver in the European junior championships in 2012 and continuing ever since.
The consistency across her race results is borne out of her consistency across all three disciplines. She has no outstanding prowess in one, nor a deficiency in another. It means she almost always there or thereabouts in the final reckoning.
Accordingly, plenty of titles have come Jeanne’s way, whether in national championships, European championships, world university championships, European Cup and Super League.
In 2019, Jeanne discovered she had Luxembourg heritage in her bloodline and changed national allegiances three years later.
The fact that she is yet to appear at an Olympic Games may well have been a major factor in her decision to swap; that is, with places on the French squad for Paris at an absolute premium due to the exceedingly high calibre of its triathletes, there would have been the danger of missing out on a place in the team.
Indeed, with the likes of Lombardi and Beaugrand, the opportunity to be at the start-line for the Olympic mixed relay (a format that’s brought Jeanne a multitude of success over the years) may have otherwise eluded her.
Since she began to race under the Luxembourg flag, Jeanne has been in a decidedly purple patch of form, scoring WTCS top-five finishes along with being crowned European champion last year.
Jeanne’s phenomenal medal haul might have slowed due to the change in which country she represents (it’s pretty much a case of saying goodbye to mixed relay glory), but it appears to have freed her up to be an even stronger contender as an individual.
How old is Jeanne Lehair?
Jeanne Lehair was born on 30 March 1996, making her 27 years of age.
Jeanne Lehair’s career highlights
April 2012: Red Sea silver
The first of many major-championship medals arrives in the Israeli resort of Eilat where Jeanne is part of the French junior mixed relay squad that takes second at the European championships.
In September, another silver comes in the mixed relay at the U23 and youth European championships in Aguilas in Spain, followed by two more medals at the duathlon world champs in Nancy, where Jeanne takes bronze in the junior women’s race and silver in the mixed relay.
June 2013: A first European title
At the U23 and Youth European championships in Holten in the Netherlands, Jeanne secures a maiden major title as part of the victorious French mixed relay squad.
May 2015: A maiden elite victory
After further podium appearances across the junior ranks during 2014, Jeanne wins her first elite title, breaking the tape at a European Cup race in Madrid after moving away from Britain’s Sophie Coldwell on the run.
June 2015: A first national crown
Dropping back into junior competition after that success in Madrid, Jeanne maintains her winning ways when she takes the national junior title with a commanding performance in Le Mans.
July 2015: A bumper crop of medals
The month of July reaps a rich harvest for Jeanne. At the European championships in Geneva, she takes silver in the junior women’s race and gold in the junior mixed relay.
A week later in Hamburg, it’s gold again, this time as part of the French elite squad at the world mixed relay championships, adding a global title to the European one she bagged in Switzerland seven days earlier.
September 2018: Double world gold in Scandinavia
After a few seasons of balancing European Cup and World Cup racing with her academic career, Jeanne travels to Kalmar in Sweden for the World University Triathlon Championships, from where she returns home with a matching pair of gold medals in her luggage.
The elite women’s title is hers after she posts the quickest run split of the day, before returning to the top step of the podium the next days as France’s students emerge victorious in the mixed relay.
Another triumph, this time in the European Cup in Valencia, arrives the following week.
May 2021: Pole position in Poland
After a COVID-affected season, Jeanne returns to winning ways in the Polish city of Olsztyn where, in a European Cup race, she just about holds off the challenge of the speedier Russian Diana Isakova to take victory by a single second. It’s her first win in nearly three seasons.
May 2023: First WTCS top-five finish
By now running under the flag of Luxembourg, and having previously failed to breach the top 10 in a WTCS race, Jeanne finishes fifth in Cagliari.
In the Sardinian sun, she comes home just behind former French team-mate Cassandre Beaugrand but ahead of world champ-in-waiting Beth Potter.
June 2023: The Madrid marvel
Jeanne’s form is peaking perfectly and, at the European championships in the Spanish capital, she takes top spot on the podium, having forced home her advantage over Germany’s Lisa Tertsch on the run.
Three weeks later, Jeanne takes another WTCS top-five placing, this time in Montreal where her scalps include Katie Zaferes and Georgia Taylor-Brown.
August 2023: Super League glory in London
In the opening event of the Super League season, Jeanne takes victory in London, having been dropped by the leaders earlier in the race.
Two further podium finishes in the series sees her level on points with Britain’s Kate Waugh after the final race, but she has to settle for overall silver based on comparative finishing positions.
Jeanne Lehair in quotes
On the strength of the French triathlon system: “It helped us a lot, our generation, to all be so strong because we could never go home and say ‘OK, today I will go easy’. It’s pretty cool to see we are all still there, all focused on a triathlon career.”
On the benefit of swapping her racing allegiance to Luxembourg: “If I was still with the French, maybe I wouldn’t have been able to race Cagliari and do what I did there [her first top-five WTCS finish in 2023]. With Luxembourg, we can write our own history and start from zero.”
On winning the Super League race in London in 2023: “When I was in fourth, I was thinking that was a good result as it was better than last year. Then I started thinking about the podium, but I never thought about the win!”
What's next for Jeanne Lehair?
Having, at the end of the 2022 season, swapped the country she represents competitively, Jeanne has effectively ruled herself out for a medal in the mixed relay at the forthcoming Paris Olympics.
But pledging her allegiance to Luxembourg will mean she’ll be there on the start-line, a presence not guaranteed if she still competed for France, bearing in mind the fierce competition for places in the French squad.
It does at least allow Jeanne an outside tilt at a medal in the women’s race. Away from Paris, the other main target for 2024 will be a first podium finish in a WTCS race – and possibly even a win.
Top image credit: That Cameraman
