Cross-country skiing: the end for Renaud Jay in Lahti
For many years, Renaud Jay was one of the stalwarts of the French cross-country skiing team. The cross-country skier from Les Menuires (Savoie), who was also a member of the famous ‘Team Poney ‘ coached at the time by Cyril Burdet, had more difficulty this winter and decided to put his foot down at the end of the season.
The 33-year-old skier will head to Tallinn (Estonia) on Wednesday to compete in a skate sprint before completing his final laps of the track in Lahti (Finland) on Friday. On Instagram, the Frenchman wrote a touching message to announce the end of his career.
“It’s been a long time! For 26 years, skiing has been the rhythm of my life. As a child, I would never have imagined or even dreamt that I would experience all that. The friends, the game, the competition, the encounters, the injuries, the failures, the victories… I’m infinitely grateful for the chance I’ve had to experience all this with extraordinary people who are passionate about the sport of cross-country skiing. It taught me hard work, resilience, perseverance, rigour and respect, but also happiness,” he confides.
“I’m proud of the fact that I’ve always been true to my values and never given up.
The Trondheim World Championships were the last big goal I set myself, and unfortunately it will go down as one of my biggest failures. I would have liked to end my career with another big result, but it was a different story,” he admits. I have no regrets, though, because right up to the end I was able to remain professional and motivated by this need and quest for performance and perfectionism.
Since his debut, he has tasted the joys of the individual podium on 18 February 2020 at the sprint skate in Åre, Sweden. In team sprint, he also had the opportunity to visit the top 3 on three occasions in the World Cup. His 2023 season will also go down as one of his most successful, with the Worlds where he won bronze in the team sprint with Richard Jouve. At the same event in Planica (Slovenia), he finished eighth in the classic sprint, where Jules Chappaz took silver.
“I feel I’m no longer finding the right balance between the effort I’m putting in and the investment I’m making. The results I’ve achieved no longer match up not only with what I’m looking for, but also with the objectives of this fine French team,” he adds on his account. I’m extremely lucky to be able to finish in the last two World Cup stages in Tallinn and Lahti, thanks to the confidence of the staff. I’m going to make the most of a few more starts, trying to come face to face with myself in the effort to give my best!
Read also
