Julia Simon won a second Olympic gold medal, this time in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon race. Teammate Lou Jeanmonnot took silver at the Milan-Cortina Winter Olympics on Wednesday, February 11.
Simon missed only one target and completed the course in 41 minutes, 15 seconds. Jeanmonnot missed two and finished 53 seconds behind. It was Simon’s second gold of the Milan-Cortina Games after teaming with Jeanmonnot, Eric Perrot and Quentin Fillon Maillet to win the mixed relay on Sunday.
Lora Hristova of Bulgaria shot a perfect race to secure a bronze medal and upset the favorites from Italy, Germany and Sweden, who have often stood atop the podium in individual Olympic biathlon competitions. Hristova finished more than one minute and four seconds behind Simon. Vanessa Voigt of Germany finished fourth, and Dorothea Wierer of Italy finished fifth.
The individual event is the longest and most challenging of all biathlon race formats. Racers go out at 30-second intervals and ski a 3-kilometer loop five times, shooting in the prone and standing positions in between. Accurate shooting is critical. Instead of skiing a penalty loop for missed shots, they get one minute added to their time for each miss.