Stade Rennais ‘to fund’ Lucas Defayet’s next season | OneFootball

Stade Rennais ‘to fund’ Lucas Defayet’s next season, according to Ouest-France.

“They contacted me last week, they offered concrete support, a partnership,” said the 28-year-old.

“The Pinault family watched the Olympics, the club were able to discover skeleton, and they were sensitive to my sport and to my situation. President Arnaud Pouille called me before the Auxerre match.” Rennes beat Auxerre 3-0.

Defayet was the first French skeleton athlete to qualify for the Olympics since 2010 and finished 19th at Milan-Cortina on 13 February. He later said he checked the scores before his fourth run, saw Rennes win 3-1 at PSG, then set a personal best start and called it a perfect evening.

The backing covers at least the 2026-27 season. “The financial aspect was quite important in my decision to continue or not until 2030,” he said.

“With support like this, I hope I will be able to progress and go through to 2030.” In January he said he was operating on a budget of about €30,000 per season, topped up by summer construction work despite some support and sponsors.

Source: L'Équipe