French women’s historic quadruple in sprints, Julia Simon Gould

French Julia Simon, Justine Bressaz-Bouchet and Lou Jeanmonot won the podium in the sprint at the world championships in Nové Mesto on Friday, ahead of Sophie Chauveau.

The Marseillaise never stops ringing at the World Championships in Nove Mesto. After the blues’ gold medal in the mixed relay on Wednesday, Friday February 9, the scene of a historic result for French biathlon, was the scene of the women’s sprint: with a gold medal signed to Julia Simon, a quarter, no less. She thus captured her second individual title at the World Championships after winning gold in the Oberhof Pursuit in 2023.

The new World Sprint Champion offered himself a flawless shot – 10/10, final time 20’07″5 – to finish ahead of Justine Bresaz-Bouchet, who made up for his mistake with an impressive shot. Time on skis (+4″9 ). Lou Jeanmonot, a permanent shooting error, completes the leading trio (+40″8), while Sophie Chauvet finishes at the foot of the podium (+44″2). Ingrid Landmark Tendrevold, the World Cup general classification leader, once threatened the French quadruple in the sprint. But the Norwegian lost his advantage when he missed the target three times on the second shot.

The Blues are leading the chase

In 1984, after the USSR in Chamonix – France became the second nation among women to sign a quadruple in the history of biathlon – Olympic Games, World Games and World Cup combined.

“I haven’t seen all the French women yet, it’s completely crazy, Commented Julia Simon on Eurosport. You say to yourself ‘I had a good race’, but when you see other people telling you ‘you’re a world champion’, you realize it’s real. To do that in a World Championship is crazy and we will remember it. Having won the first four places in this sprint, the Blues have made a strong start to Sunday’s pursuit.