2023-11-27 00:55:08
Everything started on the right track on Saturday, when Julia Simon saved the tricolor single mixed relay at the cost of a huge comeback, to finally climb onto the third step of the podium, in Ostersund (Sweden). The joy was short-lived and, on Sunday, the blow subsided. With the yellow bib of the last World Cup winner on her back, the Frenchwoman completely missed out on her Individual by finishing in a sad 31st place. “I’m mentally cooked,” conceded the winner of the big 2023 globe at the microphone of La Chaîne L’Equipe, after a tormented summer against a backdrop of legal disputes.
Of course, the season has only just started, and yet Julia Simon admits to already being on edge: “I actually lack mental freshness. It’s weird to say this about the first (stage of) the World Cup, but I’m mentally blunted. It’s a race not to forget, there are still some great things, three correct shots, but we have to turn the page, and try to find mental freshness, moments where I manage to refocus on the points essential, even in the toughest, those who will make me put these balls again. »
Despite his pessimism, Simon qualifies: “Obviously, the result (of Sunday) is very disappointing, but we must not throw everything aside, nor see everything in black. The individual is a long race, and at the last shot, I had to be there and I collapsed because the length of the race meant that. A sprint, with two shots, will already be different, and a pursuit or a mass start, with competitors around, that will perhaps help me to concentrate a little more. »
The problem affecting the French biathlete is obviously to be found on the extra-sporting side. At the age of 27, Julia Simon was implicated in a case of bank card fraud, notably affecting her teammate Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, who decided to file a complaint. The latter accuses its leader of having made several purchases on the Internet with her bank card in August 2022, for an amount of more than €2,000 – a member of the French staff having also been a victim of the operation.
“I’m not going to draw you a picture, the summer was complicated”
Touched by the situation, Julia Simon, who proclaims her innocence and has decided to file a complaint for “identity theft”, confides: “I’m not going to draw you a picture, the summer was complicated, there has pressure building up. It seems weird to already say that I’m mentally blunted when it’s the first individual competition, but it’s the truth. It’s like that. You have to accept it. It will be complicated all winter, I think, to hold on. »
She continues: “It’s true that I am dull, mentally exhausted. I’m not going to cry, although… Biathlon is ultra short, you have to focus for twenty seconds, but one second of inattention and everything collapses. There, I had three, four seconds and the whole race really collapsed. »
Before turning towards a future that she shrouds in doubts: “This ability that I had last year to go play on one last shot, and to fill it up, this year, it will perhaps be more complicated. I will have to accept it, perhaps adapt too, I will still learn certain things about myself I think. This will allow me to see if I can get back on track when things are complicated, if I can hang on, or if I collapse. »
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