Julia Simon no longer has any illusions about fighting the big world. Finishing just seventh in the Soldier Halo Sprint on Friday, the Sesis biathlete made a mistake in the standing shot.
This time, Julia Simon undoubtedly lost her last hopes of retaining the big crystal globe. Friday was his second pass on the shooting range during the Sprint at Soldier Hollow (United States). While she was in the lead after the prone shot, where she was both accurate and quick, the world champion in the specialty allowed three shots to spare in the standing shot. Crippling mistakes for French women.
In the end, Julia Simon had to settle for seventh place and was beaten by all her rivals in the race for the Grosse Globe, including the leader, Ingrid Tendrevold, who was actually second behind Justine Bressaz-Bouchet. Lou Jeanmonot and Lisa Vitozzi, both writers of impeccable performances from the Norwegians, finished third and fourth. And the verdict is even heavier for Julia Simon as she will start the chase on Sunday a minute behind the first two.
I punish myself
Justine Bresas-Buchette will start 13 seconds ahead of Ingrid Tendrevold, 19 ahead of Lou Jeanmonot, 29 ahead of Lisa Vittozzi and 1’15” ahead of Julia Simon. The latter, now 136 points behind the Norwegian in the standings, had her heart pounding after the race. “It went wrong on a standing shot, I don’t really have an explanation, She spoke into a microphone L’Equipe channel. I had fever on the mat and it didn’t make a very good copy. I am the one who made the mistake, I am punishing myself. That hurts for the general classification but that’s not my goal for the year. Ingrid has a card in her hand, she just…”
Justine Bresas-Bouchet, who finished second in the general World Cup rankings after her difficult weekend in Norway, was all smiles. “It was a very, very demanding race. The altitude, the snow, the wind on the shooting range, hard to get into the shooting range. It was an obstacle course today. It was easy to miss. Sometimes it doesn’t matter much but I managed well. well done” She whispered, even though she knew it would be difficult for her to make up the 89 points behind the Norwegian.
