Frenchwoman Julia Simon won the pursuit of the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto on Sunday, her third title in the Czech Republic, ahead of Italian Lisa Vittozzi and Frenchwoman Justine Braisaz-Bouchet. With this fifth world gold medal, his third at these Worlds after the mixed relay and the sprint, Simon, 27, joins his elder Marie Dorin-Habert in the number of planetary titles. Two other French women ranked among the first four, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, third, and Sophie Chauveau, fourth, two days after the historic feat of the Bleues who had achieved a quadruple during the sprint.
The Italian Lisa Vittozzi this time managed to insert herself into the middle of the French contingent, and take the silver medal, 46 seconds behind Simon, thanks to a 20/20 shooting. With four shooting errors, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet had to work hard to stay on the podium, but also collected a third medal at these Worlds, after gold in the mixed relay and silver in the sprint. Once again, Sophie Chauveau, 24, finished at the foot of the podium, like Friday, dropped in the last few hundred meters by Braisaz-Bouchet.
For now, total success at these Worlds
Julia Simon enters a little further into the history of French biathlon, equaling the record of her compatriot Marie Dorin-Habert, who remains a slight step ahead with four individual coronations against three, for the moment, for the skier from Les Saisies . She can now try to pass in front of her predecessor during the rest of these Worlds to get closer to Raphaël Poirée’s eight world titles and Martin Fourcade’s 13. The individual on Tuesday, the relays on Friday and Saturday, and the mass start on Sunday will provide all opportunities to further expand his record, which has largely been tinged with gold since the start of the Czech Worlds.
So far, Simon has won all three races in which she has taken part. Lou Jeanmonnot, third in the sprint, quickly lost ground after a shooting error from the start and took seventh place.