Biathlon: Julia Simon wins another individual event
A few weeks after becoming individual world champion in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), Julia Simon won the individual short race at the Biathlon World Cup in Pokljuka (Slovenia) on Thursday lunchtime.
Although she wasn’t in top form, she scored 20/20 to claim a magnificent victory, her second in a row on the world circuit. She spoke to Nordic Magazine in the mixed zone.
- With this victory, following on from your world title in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), you have become the individual Madame…
It’s true that it’s a great race! I wasn’t feeling very well today, I’m a bit sick, I’ve got a stuffy nose… So I tried to manage things a little differently by not starting too hard. I still lost a lot of time at the start, but I didn’t want to panic because most of the work had to be done on the launch pad. Eventually, I don’t know if it was me or the girls who slowed down a bit, but I lost less time. I was also lucky enough to ski with Anamarija Lampic, who pulled me a lot. We were laughing about it in the finish area, saying that it was a team effort! It helped me stay on course with my skiing and not fall apart. I’m very happy to have put this race together in such a great way. I’m really surprised to have won!
- By the first intermediate, you were already 15 seconds down. So you never panicked?
I was a bit panicked [laughs]! At the top of the track, I was already 26 seconds down. I told myself that it was going to be a tough race and that I was clearly going to have to put the balls on the table if I was going to make it. I didn’t have the right to make any mistakes! I tried not to panic and I built my race. It’s a race I can build on, with a different kind of management.
- Above all, it’s a 20/20 award, the first individual one!
It’s the first individual World Cup victory! Some days count and this one counts.
- In fact, you’re 15/15 on your last stand. Do you think about that at the time?
I thought about it, but to be honest, I kept telling myself to do it like I’d done it in training. I could feel that I wasn’t practising, my legs were shaking and I made a magnificent cord that I could see and feel. But I held on to the ball so that it fell! I’m really pleased with the 20/20.
[With Julie and Marie Le Bobinnec, in Pokljuka].
- The full programme for the Pokljuka World Cup, the eighth stage of the 2024/2025 season
- Corinne Niogret: my best memory of… Pokljuka
- Lou Jeanmonnot vs Franziska Preuss and Johannes Thingnes Boe vs Sturla Holm Lægreid: in Pokljuka, a high-risk individual race in the race for the big crystal globe
