Maurice Manificat, the Last of the Mohicans

Cradled by the crowd's roar, a smile on his lips, he let himself glide down to the base of the stands. Just before crossing the finish line, his last one in the French team's uniform, Maurice Manificat, his eyes reddened with emotion, stopped. Standing tall, he gazed at the audience, saluted them one last time before throwing himself into the arms of those who shared his daily life. "It was incredible," he says. "This day will be etched in my memory forever."

On March 10, 2024, at the end of the legendary 50 km classic race in Oslo on the Holmenkollen hill, a Nordic skiing temple, Maurice Manificat closed one of the most beautiful chapters in the history of French cross-country skiing. A quadruple Olympic and world medalist, including a silver medal at the World Championships in 2015, and 10 World Cup victories, the native of Haute-Savoie has been, from his beginnings in 2006 to today, both a hope, an accomplished athlete, a leader, but above all, an inspiration for an entire generation.

To tell this story, one must go back to the very beginning, long before Manificat. Back when young Maurice was just a boy from the Arve Valley in Haute-Savoie, discovering skiing through school. He didn't know the codes or the champions of the sport. Yet, he charged forward. That remained his trademark. Even when he joined the French team in December 2006 to participate in his first World Cup in La Clusaz, he had a clear idea of the path he wanted to follow. This determination led him to achieve his first podium in the World Cup (2009), just a year after winning the under-23 world title on the slopes of his childhood in Praz-de-Lys, and to his first World Cup victory (2010).

At 25 years old, following Vincent Vittoz's departure in 2011, he found himself as the leader of the French team. Perhaps it was the bronze medal in the Olympic relay in 2014, shared with Jean-Marc Gaillard, Robin Duvillard, and Ivan Perrillat-Boiteux, that made him realize what his elders had brought him and the legacy he could leave behind. From then on, he made it his mission to maintain this legacy, to help grow the team that had allowed him to flourish at the highest level.

This was also his approach when he joined Julbo in 2016. "It was a pride to join a French company. I had the unique opportunity to meet Julbo's designers, to work with the teams on adjustments to the products to improve performance. We share the same vision of performance and excellence."

He dedicated the end of his career to making others shine. In this XXL list of achievements, there remains a gap. In 2018, in PyeongChang, South Korea, he missed the Olympic podium in the individual 15 km free race by 4 seconds. In tears in front of the microphones, he did not dwell on his disappointment but on the sadness of not being able to offer his team, his friends, his supporters, and France's Nordic community, that medal.

In Oslo, on March 10, a chapter was closed. The final point, he has not yet put at the bottom of the page. "I have a passion for my sport. I feel that my body is still in good shape and it seems conducive to long-distance formats."