France's Simon storms to gold in women's 15km individual race

Reuters

18-02-2025

LENZERHEIDE, Switzerland, Feb 18 (Reuters) - Julia Simon of France brushed off what could have been a costly miss on the final shoot to power to victory in the women's 15km individual race at the International Biathlon Union World Championships on Tuesday in a time of 41 minutes, 27.7 seconds.
Simon finished a whopping 37.8 seconds ahead of Ella Halvarsson, who secured a sensational silver medal for Sweden, with Simon's compatriot Lou Jeanmonnot picking up the bronze, 1.4 seconds behind the Swede.
With each miss on the shooting range instantly adding a minute to the racer's time, accuracy was at a premium in the bright sunshine, with many athletes opting for short sleeves in the warm spring conditions.
Starting 46th in the 93-athlete field, Simon hit her first 10 shots and skied brilliantly to take control in the middle of the race, building up a lead of 19.4 seconds over Germany's Franziska Preuss after the third shoot.
Like Simon, Preuss arrived at the final shoot with her fate firmly in her own hands, but a pair of misses in her final series of five shots put paid to any hope she might have of making the podium.
Simon's powerful skiing throughout meant that she could afford a miss at the last shoot, leaving the range with a lead of 15.8 seconds over Halvarsson, and she blazed through the final lap to increase her margin to more than half a minute as she crossed the finish line.
Halvarsson, whose only previous World Cup podium came in the short individual race in Kontiolahti in Finland in December, was a perfect 20 for 20 on the range, but she struggled over the final stretch and faced a nervous wait to see whether her efforts would be enough for a medal.
The biggest threat came from Jeanmonnot but despite a huge effort over the final 200 metres, the Frenchwoman finished narrowly behind the Swede and had to be content with bronze.