Biathlon: after her fourth place in the individual, Julia Simon is getting closer to the big globe

Europe 1 with AFP 6 p.m., March 9, 2023

Julia Simon believes in it more and more.

After her fourth place in the individual in Oestersund in Sweden this Thursday afternoon, the biathlete thus retains a clear advantage over her pursuers in the general classification.

But one thing is certain: if the Norwegian Johannes Boe is already guaranteed to win the World Cup on the men's side, for the fourth time in his career, we will have to wait for the last races of the winter in Oslo next week to know for sure. the sacred biathlete.

In the meantime, with four individual races to go until the end of the season, including a mass start in Oestersund on Sunday, the main threat for Simon (26) has changed: it is now Vittozzi, who has closed the gap with the French at 148 points (943 against 795), and no longer the Swedish Elvira Oeberg, also doubled by Dorothea Wierer (769 points).

Because in the sunny but biting cold of Oestersund, Italy scored twice, thanks to Wierer and Vittozzi, both authors of a 20/20 in shooting and finally separated by 25 seconds on the finish line.

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Oeberg picks up

Simon finished fourth, 1 min 49 sec with two missed targets on the shooting range, behind Germany's Denise Herrmann-Wick (1 fault, +1:38.).

Oeberg, who fell ill at the Worlds in Oberhof (Germany) in February, has been struggling since and only ranked twentieth on Thursday, more than three and a half minutes from the lead, despite a very correct 18/20 behind the rifle.

She slipped to fourth place in the general classification (756 pts).

"We see that Elvira is less in shape at the moment, she is struggling to recover from her illness, notes Simon at the microphone of the L'Equipe channel. Anyway, at no time did I focus only on Elvira, Lisa (Vittozzi), Dorothea (Wierer), these are girls who will be there until the end."

"Today, ok it's not a podium, ok I drop points on Lisa, but it's still a fourth place, I'm quite happy with my double fault, continues the recent pursuit world champion. It's still a top 6, I'm satisfied."

Does Vittozzi still imagine it possible to deprive Simon of a large globe?

"I don't know. Maybe. I want to finish the season well and we'll see," replied the 29-year-old Italian.

At 90 points victory, 270 will remain in play in Oslo, with sprint, pursuit and mass start on the program.

The last French woman to have won the Biathlon World Cup was Sandrine Bailly, 18 years ago.