Double dose of double for French biathletes: two days after her success in the sprint, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet signed a new victory by winning the pursuit on Saturday in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), ahead of Julia Simon, winner of the World Cup last season . The two biathletes, locomotives of a French team at the forefront at the start of winter, have been opposed in the legal field since the filing of two complaints against Julia Simon, including one by Braisaz-Bouchet, for bank card fraud.
“In your opinion, does that seem to be a problem for us?” said Julia Simon after the race during a videoconference press briefing. “Sportingly speaking today (Saturday), we dotted the i’s, if some still had questions. She’s a great biathlete, it was a great battle today,” she added . “I’m going to make things clear right away: I think I’ve always been fair. I know how to recognize the great performances and qualities of each biathlete. Julia has great qualities as a biathlete. The matter that concerns us doesn’t has no place on the stadium,” added Braisaz-Bouchet.
Congratulations and smiles
The two French women, after having fought a battle on the track (Braisaz-Bouchet was only seven seconds ahead of Simon after the last standing shot), congratulated each other fist to fist in the finish area and chatted together with smiles before going on the podium. “It was a good moment, a double for the French biathlon, a double for the Saisies club, it’s not every day,” underlined Julia Simon.
For Braisaz-Bouchet, the Lenzerheide races, where the Biathlon World Championships will take place at altitude (1,500 m) in February 2025, mark her return to the forefront, after a maternity break last winter. On Sunday, she will have the opportunity to achieve a very rare individual hat-trick in a World Cup weekend, with the mass start, a discipline of which she is the reigning Olympic champion after her coronation at the Beijing Games in 2022.
“I prepared myself with all possible scenarios: the first, being in the lead and having fun in front, the second, was seeing the others come from behind. I just wanted to play on the track and to be a strategist”, appreciated Braisaz-Bouchet.
Simon “evacuated” his “little doubts”
With this seventh individual victory in the World Cup (the eighth of her career, adding the Olympic mass start title), she moves closer to second place in the general World Cup rankings, 35 points behind the Norwegian Ingrid. Landmark Tandrevold (372 against 337). For his part, Simon, holder of the big crystal globe, signs his first podium of the winter. “It was a good start to the season, I was often placed but never rewarded. I am very happy to be on the second step of this podium,” she underlined.
“We discussed quite a bit with the coaches, I got rid of these little doubts. I refocused on the essentials, my race management, the technical points, what I did last year and which worked “, explained Simon, who admitted to being “mentally exhausted” after the opening individual race in Östersund (Sweden). After Lou Jeanmonnot’s sprint/pursuit double at the beginning of December in Sweden during the first stage of the World Cup, this is the fourth French victory in seven women’s individual races contested. Jeanmonnot, infected with Covid-19 after the stage in Hochfilzen (Austria) last week, did not participate in the sprint or the pursuit in Lenzerheide.