again winner, the Frenchwoman Julia Simon consolidates her status as leader of the World Cup

And three for Julia Simon this season. Victorious in the pursuit race twice, in Kontiolahti, in Finland, then in Hochfilzen, in Austria, in the fall, the Frenchwoman raised her arms again at the finish of a Cup race. biathlon world, Sunday 15 January. In Ruhpolding, Germany, she won the mass start (12.5 kilometer mass start race with two shots lying down and two shots standing up).

Armed with her yellow World Cup leader bib, Julia Simon took the lead in the race from the first lap. No one could catch her on skis, but three errors behind the rifle (she scores 17/20) forced her to spin three times on the penalty ring, allowing her most accurate opponents to come out in its wake after the last shot.

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At the start of the last lap, they were still three to be able to play for victory: Julia Simon, the Italian Lisa Vittozzi (at 19/20) and another tricolor, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet (at 19/20). However, there will be no sprint finish. Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet is the first to be left behind by her competitors. Finally, in the final descent of the track, Julia Simon places too much acceleration for Lisa Vittozzi.

The Italian is content with second place ahead of Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet. Far behind, Sweden’s Linn Persson crossed the finish line in fourth position, more than 30 seconds behind Julia Simon.

“Today, she no longer had the ‘box’recognized Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet at the microphone of the L’Equipe channel about her compatriot. Me, I know that in the sprint on the flat I’m bad, so I played with my cards. I wanted to try to create a gap in the front hump [l’arrivée], but I didn’t do enough to get them. »

Mixed fortunes for the French team

Leaving the penalty ring before the last lap, Julia Simon assures for her part that she had already done ” the plan in [sa] head and several plans if it does not go as planned ». But everything went as planned. “Either I was really much stronger physically and I left from the beginning, or I waited for the end. I opted to wait until the end”she explained.

The Savoyard made the very good operation of the weekend in the race for the big crystal globe, since her runner-up in the general classification, the Swede Elvira Öberg, did not score any points. Sick, the latter was not at the start of the race.

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During this fifth stage of the World Cup, in Bavaria, the French team experienced mixed fortunes. Among the men, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Emilien Jacquelin suffered Norwegian domination. Among the women, on the other hand, the results are very positive: four places on the podium in two individual races; Thursday, Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon took second and third place in the individual (15 km). As a reminder, this season, the French team is deprived of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who has chosen to put her career on hold while waiting for a happy event.

The next stage of the Biathlon World Cup, the sixth, will take place next week in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy. Then a return to Germany will take place for the world championships, which will be held in Oberhof, from February 8 to 19, 2023.

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