After successful Worlds, biathlete Julia Simon resumes crystal hunting

Europe 1 with AFP 6:48 p.m., March 01, 2023

Julia Simon, who at the age of 26 became world pursuit champion in February in Oberhof (Germany) and bronze medalist in the mass start, her first two individual international medals, is approaching the last part of winter with the leader's yellow bib of the general classification, which she has worn since December.

But nothing is certain, since the biathlete from Les Saisies only has a 76-point lead over her closest pursuer, the Swede Elvira Oeberg (811 against 735).

However, more than six hundred points are still at stake with the remaining seven individual races, including two in the Czech Republic, Friday's sprint and Saturday's pursuit.

A win is worth 90 points.

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"Big Fight"

"It's going to be a big fight, anticipated the director of French biathlon Stéphane Bouthiaux at the end of the Worlds ten days ago. There are three weeks left, she has a little lead, but the gap is not enough to imagine anything right now. It has to know how to respond from the first races at Nove Mesto."

If it wasn't one in the pre-season, "it's becoming a real goal, recognizes Simon. It can happen. I hope it will end well."

The last Frenchwoman to win the big crystal globe was Sandrine Bailly, in 2005. Since the beginning of winter, "I managed to find consistency", which she had been lacking until then, appreciates Simon, out of the top 15 only twice, never out of the top 20. "Now we have to continue, these last three weeks are not going to be easy. There will still be a lot of pressure, she knows. I have to leave with this aggressiveness that I can have and the desire to build my races well."

In terms of dynamics, the trajectories of Simon and Oeberg are opposite, since the Lapland, suffering in Oberhof, only competed in an individual race (sprint) and a relay, when the Savoyard collected three medals there. , including one in gold.

But the Kiruna biathlete may have accumulated less fatigue.

"When I managed to get the yellow jersey, few people thought I was capable of keeping it. Finally, as I go along, I show that I have the shoulders to withstand this pressure and these expectations", holds Simon back.

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Without Jacquelin

Johannes Boe (29), imperial since the start of the season, both in the World Cup and at the Worlds where his three individual coronations and his seven medals in total gave the idea to rename the German village in "Boeberhof", melts him towards a fourth big globe, after those won between 2019 and 2021.

But the Norwegian phenomenon will still have to wait at least until the following week, in Oestersund (Sweden), and perhaps even until the last stage of the winter, in Oslo, to definitively distance his compatriot Sturla Laegreid, the only one to somehow keep up his infernal pace (219 points behind Nove Mesto).

It is the men's sprint that opens the Czech program on Thursday afternoon (4:10 p.m.).

With Quentin Fillon Maillet, holding the big globe but mounted on a single individual podium this year.

But without Emilien Jacquelin, who ended his season after the Oberhof Worlds, "empty tank", mentally in particular.

Boe, he will aim at the start of the sprint for his fifteenth individual victory of the winter, World Championships included.

The record, which he set in 2018/2019, is sixteen.