Cucumber Java Convert data table to specific type

I want to use a data table in my properties file and convert the content to one specific type in the step definition. For example, I would like to be able to transform the following data table into one instance of the User class.

 Given the user is
    | firstname  | lastname  | nationality |
    | Roberto    | Lo Giacco | Italian     |

      

        
        
        
      

    

User class:

class User {
    String firstName;
    String lastName;
    Nationality nationality;
//getters / setters / etc
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

Step definition:

 @Given("^the user is$")
 public void the_user_is(User user) {
     this.user = user;
 }

      

        
        
        
      

    

However, when I run this, I get the following error:

cucumber.runtime.CucumberException: cucumber.runtime.CucumberException: not a map or list type: class example.User

The documentation assumes that it is possible to convert a data table into a single object.

Cucumber transfer API docs

However, checking the code, it looks like it will always return a list. This code snippet is from cucumber /runtime/table/TableConverter.convert(DataTable dataTable, type type, boolean transpose):

Type itemType = listItemType(type);
if (itemType == null) {
    throw new CucumberException("Not a Map or List type: " + type);
}

      

        
        
        
      

    

I know this works for a list:

 @Given("^the user is$")
 public void the_user_is(List<User> user) {
     this.user = user.get(0);
 }

      

        
        
        
      

    

but in my real world step (not in this simplified example) there is only one object that needs to be created and I want to avoid using the list and then take the first item.