VIDEO. “It was rage I think”: Julia Simon lets her joy explode by winning the pursuit ahead of Justine Braisaz-Bouchet

La joie de Simon, la plus forte samedi. MAXPPP – HANNIBAL HANSCHKE

La Française Julia Simon a remporté samedi 6 janvier la poursuite (10 km) d'Oberhof (Allemagne) devant sa compatriote Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, qui conforte ainsi sa place de leader au classement général de la Coupe du monde de biathlon à mi-saison.

This is the seventh French victory of the winter out of ten individual races contested, after Lou Jeanmonnot's double in Östersund (Sweden), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet's hat-trick in Lenzerheide (Switzerland), who also won the sprint at Oberhof on Friday.

Julia Simon and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, locomotives of a French team at the forefront at the start of winter, have been opposed on the legal ground since the filing of two complaints against Simon, including one by Braisaz-Bouchet, for bank card fraud.

Saturday, "JBB" left with around forty seconds ahead of Simon, after his victory in Friday's sprint. Perfect on the prone shot, she missed a first target on her first pass on the standing shot.

🇫🇷 La première victoire de la saison pour Julia Simon !

Un doublé français sur cette poursuite avec la deuxième place de Justine-Braisaz-Bouchet#lequipeBIATHLON pic.twitter.com/4jtKS4Qi9m

— la chaine L'Équipe (@lachainelequipe) January 6, 2024

Simon handles the last shot better

Entering the shooting range with more than twenty seconds ahead of her rival before the last shot, Braisaz-Bouchet took longer to release her bullets and missed two targets compared to one for Julia Simon.

The latter, winner of the World Cup last season, then increased her lead of ten seconds at the start of the last lap to offer herself her first victory this season, she who admitted to being exhausted from the first race of the winter in Östersund.

The two French women high-fived each other sportingly at the end of the race in the finishing area, before sharing a second podium together. Three weeks ago, it was Braisaz-Bouchet who beat Simon in the pursuit of Lenzerheide.

"I let the emotions speak"

Simon was very expressive as she crossed the finish line, showing a form of relief after a start to the season under pressure. "It'I think it was rage", she even said on the microphone of the L'Equipe channel.

🇫🇷💬 La réaction de Julia Simon après sa victoire sur la poursuite d'Oberhof !#lequipeBIATHLON pic.twitter.com/Sr47rTWs3U

— la chaine L'Équipe (@lachainelequipe) January 6, 2024

"At some point, I let the emotions speak. It's okay, you have to let go a little. Rage, because finally! It was hard, it was long. It's a relief, because in the last lap, when you have Justine behind, you have to ski to the end."

For Justine Braisaz-Bouchet, second place still constitutes a very good operation from the perspective of the general ranking of the World Cup, since it increases her lead over the Norwegian Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, 3rd Saturday in the pursuit, at 91 points (592 against 501), after 10 of the 21 individual races of the season.