Biathlon: gold on Julia Simon’s back in Lenzerheide
At this year’s biathlon world championships in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), there will be just one distinctive bib worn in the individual races: the gold of the reigning world champions crossed out with the prestigious words “DEFENDING CHAMPION”.
Point 12.8 of the IBU’s competition and event regulations sets out the new rules. It signals the end of the yellow, red and blue jerseys at the World Championships, an event that is now completely separate from the World Cup.
So, this Friday in the sprint and on Sunday in the pursuit, Julia Simon from Beaufort will be easily recognisable as she will be wearing the gold tunic of the reigning champion. Last year, in the pursuit, she had the opportunity to wear it, but it was mixed with the red of the leader of the speciality. This time, as the rules have been changed, it will be sublime and completely gold.
On the slopes of the Roland Arena, three other biathletes will be wearing this golden bib: Johannes Thingnes Boe (pursuit, individual, mass-start), Sturla Holm Lægreid (sprint) and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (mass-start).
Wearing the gold bib at the Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide 🇨🇭
Men
- sprint: Sturla Holm Lægreid 🇳🇴
- pursued by: Johannes Thingnes Boe 🇳🇴
- individual: Johannes Thingnes Boe 🇳🇴
- mass-start: Johannes Thingnes Boe 🇳🇴
Ladies
- sprint: Julia Simon 🇫🇷
- pursued by Julia Simon 🇫🇷
- individual: not carried (Lisa Vittozzi 🇮🇹, reigning world champion, has withdrawn)
- mass-start: Justine Braisaz-Bouchet 🇫🇷
- The full programme for the World Championships in Lenzerheide, the highlight of the 2024/2025 season
- Léna Arnaud: my best memory of… Lenzerheide
- Swiss biathlete Arnaud Du Pasquier presents the Roland Arena, the Lenzerheide stadium used for the 2025 World Championships
- Delphyne Burlet on the challenges of the Lenzerheide world championships
- Two of the four reigning world champions have been retained: the French mixed relay line-up for Wednesday’s opening round of the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- “We decided to follow the sporting logic”: Stéphane Bouthiaux explains how the French mixed relay team for the World Championships in Lenzerheide was put together.
- Quentin Fillon-Maillet annoyed at being sidelined in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide: “I thought I deserved more consideration from the staff”.
- “We’re aiming for the title”: a year after their triumph in Nove Mesto, France will attempt to make it two in a row in the mixed relay at the World Championships in Lenzerheide.
- Mixed relay in Lenzerheide: the first day on which Johannes Thingnes Boe could become the most successful biathlete in the history of the World Championships
- Lenzerheide: France, with Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Emilien Jacquelin, retain their world mixed relay title
- “We couldn’t have got off to a better start than this”: the perfect start for the French team, which won gold in the mixed relay at the world championships in Lenzerheide.
- “I don’t feel like I made a mistake”: Julia Simon recounts her collision with Sweden’s Anna Magnusson during the mixed relay in Lenzerheide
- Julia Simon and Sebastian Samuelsson crash, Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Hanna Oeberg fail to shoot: an opening mixed relay full of twists and turns in Lenzerheide
- Lenzerheide: Czech Republic surprise silver medallists in mixed relay
- Lenzerheide: seventh in the mixed relay with Lukas Hofer and Tommaso Giacomel, Italy’s Hannah Auchentaller and Dorothea Wierer battled it out on the difficult Swiss track
- “It was fun”: during the mixed relay at the World Championships in Lenzerheide, Britain’s Shawna Pendry was surprised to ski with her idol Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold.
- Lenzerheide: the day after her fall in the mixed relay, Julia Simon did not take part in the day’s official training session
