Five individual races from the end of the season, two in Oestersund, individual Thursday and mass start on Sunday, and three in Oslo the following week, Simon (26) has 158 and 173 points ahead of her two closest pursuers. in the general classification, respectively the Swedish Elvira Oeberg and the Italian Lisa Vittozzi.

A maximum of 450 points remain to be distributed.

The past week could not have been worse for Oeberg, who scored no points, ejected from the top 60 in the sprint and therefore from the pursuit in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic).

With a top 5 and a top 10, Vittozzi kept pace with the Frenchwoman and in the end, it is perhaps she who will become the N.1 threat for Simon, both Oeberg, who fell ill at the Worlds in Oberhof in February (without invoking the Covid-19 then), has been struggling since.

The good news for Simon, as the Covid-19 decimates the men's circuit, is that he should not catch up with her at the worst moment, in the final sprint of the big globe race, since the recent world champion of prosecution just recovers from it.

First since Bailly?

"Today I may be taking the advantage a little, but I know that Elvira is very solid, very strong mentally too, and she is not going to let go like that", was wary last weekend the one who has the opportunity to become the first Frenchwoman to win the World Cup since Sandrine Bailly eighteen years ago.

"I was asking myself some questions about the physical" after being sick, she added.

"I answered my questions: I know now that it will be complicated, we will have to fight, the end of the season is still long."

What about its main opponents?

On the men's side, it's the carnage: three of the first four in the general classification, Johannes Boe, his brother Tarjei, and another Norwegian, Sturla Laegreid, plus Quentin Fillon Maillet and the Swede Sebastian Samuelsson - at least - were tested positive for Covid-19 for a week.

The Norwegian trio are aiming for a return on Sunday for the mass start but will not take part in the individual on Thursday, their federation said, which has the immediate consequence of ensuring Johannes Boe wins the World Cup.

Under these conditions, his 399 point lead puts him out of reach of Laegreid, the last who could mathematically deprive him of it.

Boe as Pear

At 29, Boe offers himself the big crystal globe for the fourth time in his career, after those won in a row between 2019 and 2021. He thus joins the Frenchman Raphaël Poirée, at the turn of the 2000s, and the German Frank Ullrich, to that of the 1980s. Still leading the dance Martin Fourcade, with seven big globes won consecutively between 2011 and 2018, and the Norwegian Ole Einar Bjoerndalen and the Swedish Magdalena Forsberg, with six each.

Norwegian Johannes Boe, winner of the pursuit in Nove Mesto, March 4, 2023 © Michal Cizek / AFP

This big globe comes to crown his hair-raising season: even before the end of winter, the Scandinavian has already equaled the record for individual victories in a season, which he had established in 2018/2019, with sixteen successes, World Cup and Worlds combined.

He potentially has four individual races left to go.

He dominated the 2023 Worlds in Oberhof (Germany) in February, with five gold medals, including three in the individual (sprint, pursuit and individual), and a total of seven medals in seven races.

The podium only escaped him once this winter, during the first race of the season at the end of November, an individual in Kontiolahti (Finland).

He climbed on the next 19, until his absence on Thursday.

The program for the 8th stage:

.

THURSDAY

(1:15 p.m.) Individual women

(4:20 p.m.) Individual men

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SATURDAY

(2:00 p.m.) Women's Relay

(4:30 p.m.) Men's relay

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Sunday

(1:00 p.m.) Mass start women

(4:00 p.m.) Mass start men

© 2023 AFP