Julia Simon will have gone through all the emotions. The one who had not hidden her disappointment on Saturday, after a frustrating fourth place in the women’s relay, approached the last event of the Oberhof Worlds (Germany) with the desire to set the record straight. But, as with the men, a little earlier on Sunday February 19, in the end, it was Sweden who won.
Like her compatriot Samuelsson, Hanna Oeberg (18/20) became mass start world champion (12.5 kilometers) in front of the huge stands of the Arena am Rennsteig, filled with 20,000 spectators despite the rain. She is ahead of the Norwegian Ingrid Tandrevold and Julia Simon. Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, leading the race for a long time, had to settle for fourth place.
The last shot, justice of the peace
Starting at the head of the mass start, her face closed, Julia Simon first paid for her inaccuracies in prone shooting (8/10), which forced her to catch up on skis to join the leading group. It was another Frenchwoman, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet, who then led the dance alongside Linn Personn and Lisa Theresa Hauser, reigning world champion. The leading trio dug a first gap on the second lying shot. Making a clean copy on skis and on the shooting range (19/20), Chevalier-Bouchet, 30, could then envisage a first individual medal at these Worlds.
Often justice of the mass start test, the first standing shot offered the best possible configuration for the tricolors. After a clear round, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet and Julia Simon (+ 7”) came out of the shooting range in the lead, after Personn and Hauser received a penalty lap. Les Bleues were then fourteen seconds ahead of their pursuers, the Swedish Hanna Oeberg and the Norwegian Ingrid Tandrevold.
Engaged in a duel on the last shot, the two French women took all the risks in their race for the title. In a style opposed to the impetuous Julia Simon, Anaïs Chevalier-Bouchet advanced with calm and application, for the same result: a missed ball. The tricolors saw their advantage melt away.
At the same time, Sweden’s Hanna Oeberg (10/10 in standing shooting) performed a top flight, blackening her targets in record time. Already silver medalist in the sprint and crowned in the individual, the Swede only had to maintain her lead over the Norwegian Tandrevold (5/5 at the last shot) and over the Blues to afford a new title. .
Julia Simon tried everything for everything
Out in third and fourth position, more than eight seconds from the lead, the French women could not catch up. Julia Simon, with a start, joined the Norwegian in second place before breaking down in the final. “I came out of the last lap, I said to myself that I was going to try to get Hanna [Oeberg], even though I knew she had very good legs. I wanted to stay on the podium and I tried everything. It was a coin toss. I thought I had overtaken Ingrid, but with the slipstream she came back to the second part of the loop. I don’t regret anything, I had to try it, I’m satisfied with this bronze medal”recognized the tricolor at the microphone of La Chaîne L’Equipe.
After having long been in the battle for victory, Anais Chevalier Bouchet finally failed at the foot of the podium. “I miss a ball on the run, that’s how it is. I played and gave myself the means to play for the title. I was aiming for gold, I tried to produce my best biathlon and I leave without regrets”, explained, very moved, the Frenchwoman. His sister, Chloé Chevalier, finished thirteenth (+1’03”, 18/20).
A time in the fight at the head of the race, Lou Jeanmonnot said to herself “ exhausted » after the mass start. For her first world championships, the tricolor, fifteenth (+ 1’20), explains ” not having had a lot of energy on the skis”, despite a satisfactory shot (18/20).
The French delegation closes these Biathlon Worlds with four medals, including two gold, for the men’s relay and women’s pursuit. This is three fewer than at the 2021 Worlds in Poklujka (Slovenia) and four fewer than in 2020, in Antholz-Anterselva (Italy).