France’s Julia Simon, unable to defend her Sprint and Pursuit titles from Nove Mesto, roared back today, winning the BMW IBU World Championships 15 km Individual in 41:27.1. Simon after six penalties in Sunday’s Pursuit, took the lead after the second prone stage, missed a single shot in the final standing and with a fast last loop sealed her second Gold medal to her Mixed Relay Gold last week.

“Good Strategy”

Today’s victory gave the 2023 World Cup total Score winner four individual WCH Gold medals. “It feels so good. It was so hard in the last lap. My legs were burning so much. But I feel really good. I think I had a really good strategy on skis. I started fast, but not too fast. Always in a good rhythm. I felt confident on the shooting range, so I feel really good. “

“Strong talk with Jean Paul”

She admitted the past few days have been rough, but she had confidence today after a talk with Coach Jean Paul Giachino. “The last week was very tough. I had a big fall in the Mixed Relay and had a lot of headaches. I felt like my focus was not really good ion the shooting range, so I slept a lot. This morning, I had a strong talk with Jean Paul. I told him I feel like I enjoy biathlon but am missing something really important like I had last winter. Something you can have in the last lap to make the difference. He said, ‘If you can’t do biathlon so good for you, do it for your family and staff. I thought about it a lot during the race today and feel amazing.”

“Perfect race…unbelievable!”

Sweden’s Ella Halvarsson in her debut World Championships shot clean for the Silver medal, 37.1 seconds back. She called wearing the medal, “a crazy feeling; the best day of my life. It feels good! I’ve been crying, laughing. I am just so happy and really enjoying this…Doing a perfect race in my first World Championships is unbelievable!”

“It’s a relief”

Simon’s teammate Lou Jeanmonnot, like Simon, missing medals in the Sprint and Pursuit, won Bronze, 39.2 seconds back, with one penalty. “It’s a relief to be on the podium today. After missing the first shot, my coach told me I was sixth, then fourth, and third. It kept me in the race but after the first shooting…I was really disappointed, because I did not know…why I missed.”

Finland’s Sprint Bronze medalist Suvi Minkkinen shot clean in fourth place, 1:15.3 back. Ukraine’s Yulia Dzhima also shot clean in fifth, 1:23.8 back. Sweden’s Elvira Oeberg, with one penalty finished sixth, 1:29.8 back.

Sunshine and 6 degrees greeted the women this afternoon. Simon cleaned the first three stages, missing her only shot in the last standing while Halvarsson’s perfect day kept her in the top two. Jeanmonnot battled to the podium after a first stage penalty, climbing back with three perfect stages.

Photos: IBU/ Vianney Thibaut, Nordic Focus