Biathlon: Julia Simon and Lou Jeanmonnot do the double in the Olympic individual event
At the magnificentAnterselva Biathlon Arena inAntholz (Italy), the French women’s biathlon team were eagerly awaited on Wednesday as they competed in the individual event at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games. The day afterEric Perrot ‘s silver medal and three days after the gold medal in the mixed relay,Les Bleues had a superb race as a team.
Although Beaufort native Justine Braisaz-Bouchet (12/30), who finished in eightieth place, wasn’t up to the task on the Italian snow, Julia Simon (19/20) and Lou Jeanmonnot (18/20) completed an Olympic double that has never been achieved before in the history of French biathlon.
The former, after an autumn marked by the turmoil surrounding the closure of her bank card theft case, produced an incredible race. Not in good form at the start of the season following her suspension, Julia Simon stepped up a gear in January to reign supreme in the individual Olympic event, a year after doing the same at the Worlds. In this 15 km long format, where every effort can be paid for in cash on the mats, she managed to keep her composure to claim her first solo Olympic title.
She won the gold medal by a wide margin, with Lou Jeanmonnot (18/20) taking silver at 53 sec 1. Despite two shooting errors, one in the first upright and another in the second upright, the Doubiste skier showed great speed on the cross-country track to win silver, her first individual medal at the Olympic Games.
The podium could have been completed by Camille Bened from Chablais (19/20) , who would have made it an incredible hat-trick for the French team. Unfortunately, the biathlete from Haute-Savoie let the last of her twenty balls of the day slip away and had to be content with a magnificent… but frustrating sixth place, 1 min 36 sec 7 from victory.
It was 22-year-old Bulgarian Lora Hristova (20/20) who took the bronze medal. Currently seventy-third in the overall World Cup rankings and never in a single individual top 10 on the circuit, she achieved the feat at the start of this fortnight by inviting herself onto the podium alongside the French.
Dorothea Wierer fifth in the last individual of her life
Germany’s Vanessa Voigt (20/20) and Italy’s Dorothea Wierer (19/20), in the last individual of her career, complete the top 5.
In the top 10, behind Camille Bened, were Switzerland’s Lea Meier (19/20), Germany’s Janina Hettich-Walz (18/20), Sweden’s Linn Gestblom (18/20) and Germany’s Franziska Preuss (18/20).
Video of the double
Full results
BTHW15KMIS-FNL-000100-__C73A_1.0- Races, training sessions, shooting trials, ceremonies: the full programme for the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games
- 2026 Olympic Games: the full biathlon programme for the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games
- Anterselva Biathlon Arena: everything you need to know about the Antholz venue, which will host the biathlon events at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games
- Caroline Colombo: my best memory of… Antholz-Anterselva
- Pierre Mignerey, FFS National Technical Director, outlines the French team’s ambitions for the 2026 Olympics: “It’s clear that we expect the biathletes to be on the podium”.
- Coaches, physiotherapists, physical trainers, press officers, technicians: what kind of support will the French team have at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games?
- With Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon: France announces its mixed relay quartet
- “For my personal preparation, I thought it made more sense to do the third relay”: why Lou Jeanmonnot didn’t want to complete the Olympic mixed relay
- “It all seems quite logical”: Corinne Niogret, 1992 Olympic champion in the women’s relay, explains the composition of the French mixed relay.
- How Simon Fourcade and Cyril Burdet justify the order of the mixed relay and the selections of Quentin Fillon-Maillet and Julia Simon
- Camille Bened at the start of the individual race, Océane Michelon in the sprint
- “If the first race goes well, it’s easy to follow it up”: the mixed relay, a golden opportunity for France to kick off the Olympic fortnight with a bang
- “Everything I’ve seen, experienced and felt means I’m starting these Games a little less naked”: what Peiserot Eric Perrot takes away from his experience as a substitute at the 2022 Olympics.
- Medal records, stars of the fortnight, ambitions: all the issues at stake at the Milan/Cortina 2026 Olympic Games with Delphyne Burlet
- Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon crowned Olympic mixed relay champions in Antholz
- “Crazy”, “Magical”, “Incredibly beautiful”: the emotion and joy of Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon, Olympic champions in the mixed relay
- Julia Simon, Lou Jeanmonnot and Eric Perrot join the closed circle of French Olympic champions
- Gold medallist for the third time at the Olympic Games, Quentin Fillon-Maillet becomes the equal of Jean-Claude Killy
- Yvon Mougel, world medallist in 1981 and three-time Olympian, talks about the mixed relay: “The French team played in a dream race”.
- Olympic individual silver for Eric Perrot, Norway’s Johan-Olav Botn wins at 20/20
- Eric Perrot, third Frenchman on the podium in an individual event at the Olympic Games
- First reaction from Eric Perrot, silver medallist in the individual event: “Huge satisfaction to be an individual Olympic medallist”.
- “Sivert, we did it”: an emotional gold medal for Johan-Olav Botn in the individual event
- “I only have eyes for her”: in tears after her individual Olympic medal, Sturla Holm Lægreid confesses her infidelity live on Norwegian television
- Yvon Mougel, world medallist in 1981 and three-time Olympian, recalls the men’s individual: “We’ll remember the embrace between Johan-Olav Botn and Eric Perrot”.
- “I don’t want to be in a different frame of mind”: how Camille Bened, lined up for the individual event, approaches her Olympic debut
