The target has never been so close to Julia Simon’s rifle. The French ended her weekend in Östersund (Sweden) with a third place, Sunday March 13, in the mass-start event. Consequence: she keeps 144 points ahead of the general classification of the World Cup on the Italian Dorothea Wierer, winner of the day, and 185 on her compatriot Lisa Vittozzi. With just three individual races left (a victory is worth 90 points) to end the season – next week, March 16-19, in Oslo (Norway) – the leader’s yellow bib seems firmly hanging on his shoulders of the 26-year-old biathlete.
Dorothea Wierer wins the race, Lou Jeanmonnot comes 2nd and Julia Simon 3rd. ???????? Nice race from the Frenchwoman C… https://t.co/6luidJxwYa
If she continues at the same pace in Norway, Julia Simon would thus become the first Frenchwoman to win the big crystal globe since Sandrine Bailly in 2005. A reward that would conclude an almost perfect season, also embellished with a title of champion of the pursuit world in February in Oberhof, Germany.
She could even have had even more margin in the standings if the end of her mass-start had gone better on Sunday. Very fast on skis and against targets, Julia Simon was in the lead until the last pass on the shooting range, but had to turn once on the penalty ring after a foul on her standing shot, leaving the field is open to Dorothea Wierer, perfect, her rifle in hand (20/20).
Les Bleues all answered present
“There is a little shared feeling todayconceded the Frenchwoman, after the race, to La Chaîne L’Equipe. I’m very happy with this podium, it wasn’t easy to get, and it’s a good deal in the general classification. There was a bit of tension because there are a lot of issues at the end of the season. But I miss this last ball which darkens the picture a little. » Words that join the image of her crossing the finish line, where she banged her head with her fist, frustrated by the course of events.
If Julia Simon was mixed in the era of arrival, the staff of the French women’s team can for its part be very satisfied with the day, the day after the small globe gleaned in the relay.
Lou Jeanmonnot (20/20 against the targets) has thus equaled the best result of his career by taking second place, and leads a long procession of French people at the forefront of the race. Behind Julia Simon, Caroline Colombo finished fifth (18/20), Chloé Chevalier tenth (18/20) and Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet fifteenth (16/20). And the Blues are not satisfied. “I would like to win one last race next week, why not the sprint…”, thus slipped Julia Simon a few minutes after her podium.
Eric Perrot lands his first World Cup podium
Sunday March 12 was definitely a good day for French biathlon. A few hours after Lou Jeanmonnot and Julia Simon’s double podium in the women’s mass-start, it was Eric Perrot who distinguished himself on the track in Östersund, Sweden, by snatching third place in the men’s event. The 21-year-old Frenchman, who had never before competed in a mass-start in the World Cup, also signed the first individual podium of his career.
First down following a foul on the second lying shot, the Savoyard came back up lap after lap, until he came out in the first positions of the last passage on the shooting range. All that remained was to beat on skis other biathletes more experienced than him. Something that Eric Perrot applied to do by accelerating in the final hectometres. At the finish, he was finally overtaken by two Norwegians, Vetle Christiansen (1is) and Johannes Dale. But the young Frenchman is already making an appointment for next winter.
