Biathlon : a rediscovered Julia Simon shines in front of the French public
Julia Simon was delighted to gradually regain her best sensations after her scare a few weeks ago in the women’s sprint at Kontiolahti (Finland) on Friday, and confirmed her upward momentum this Saturday in the pursuit event at the Biathlon World Cup in Le Grand-Bornand (Haute-Savoie).
On the attack in the confrontation race that she loves so much, the Frenchwoman put in a fine performance to climb onto the podium in the day’s event. Applied to the targets, where she only made two mistakes, the Savoyard never relinquished her second place, which she took after the third shot.
Her renewed energy before the Christmas holidays has enabled the Beaufort biathlete to move back up in the overall rankings. The Frenchwoman is now in fifth place, 55 points behind the podium and in third place with Lou Jeanmonnot.
At the head of the race, Franziska Preuss went it alone. Untouchable as she has rarely been in her career to date, the German did not falter under pressure. With a magnificent 19/20 on the mats, the world number one confirmed that she is the boss of the world circuit at the start of this winter.
Best career result for Jeanne Richard
One of the rare athletes to have achieved a clear round behind the rifle on Saturday, her compatriot Vanessa Voigt also made it onto the podium in style. A few seconds behind her, Jeanne Richard achieved the best result of her young career at this level.
Lurking in ambush as the rounds went by, the Haut-Savoyard biathlete negotiated her runs on the mats ideally, scoring an excellent 19/20. Making progress on the boards, the 22-year-old biathlete then battled right to the end on the Aravis track to retain her superb fourth place.
Jeanne Richard ‘s main rival in the battle for the blue bib of best young woman under 23 on the World Cup, Océane Michelon, came back into the limelight after a lacklustre sprint. Eleventh on the line, the Savoyard reassured herself by beating her compatriot Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who had a real ordeal on the shooting range with a timid 13/20.
After missing out on her sprint on Friday, Lou Jeanmonnot started from thirty-fifth position on Saturday afternoon. Despite two shooting errors, the Doubiste rider climbed back up to eighteenth in the final rankings. It was a difficult day for Sophie Chauveau, on the other hand, in thirty-first place after shooting 17/20.
Live data from the women’s pursuit
The full rankings
The overall ranking for the pursuit
The overall World Cup standings
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- “I moved the position of his hand forward a little”: how Jean-Marc Chabloz tried to correct Martin Ponsiluoma’s many errors in the prone shot.
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