Frenchwoman Julia Simon won the Anterselva mass start on Sunday, the last Biathlon World Cup event before the 2024 Worlds (February 7-18).
Simon, winner of the World Cup last season, signed, despite a shooting penalty, her second victory of the winter, the tenth of her career, ahead of her compatriot Lou Jeanmonnot, at 8 seconds 9/10 (without shooting foul).
The two French women were already on the individual podium on Friday, Simon finishing 2nd ahead of Jeanmonnot, behind the Swiss Lena Häcki-Gross, who took 3rd place on Sunday 20 sec 7/10 behind Simon.
These are the 17th and 18th podiums for the French women's team this winter.
After a complicated start to the season, Simon is gaining momentum as the main meeting of the winter approaches, the World Championships in Nove Mesto, in the Czech Republic, where she will put her title of pursuit world champion back on the line.
Thanks to this fourth individual podium of the winter, she is now 4th in the general ranking of the World Cup (662 pts) which remains dominated by the Norwegian Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold, only 17th on Sunday (719 pts).
Lou Jeanmonnot, 25, stood on the podium in an individual World Cup event for the fifth time this season.
She is now 6th in the world rankings (590 pts).
Sick at the start of the week, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet finished the Italian stage well with a 9th place, 58.4 seconds behind her compatriot, which allowed her to consolidate her 2nd place in the general classification (689 pts), at 30 leader points.