After the harvest of world gold, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Julia Simon, both in ambush, resume the hunt for the big crystal globe of world No.1 in Oslo, seventh of the nine stages of the Biathlon World Cup, Thursday to Sunday.
Two thirds of the way through the World Cup season, before the last seven individual races on the calendar, it is for the moment the Norwegian Ingrid Tandrevold who is at the head of the general classification.
With 719 points, she is 30 points ahead of Braisaz-Bouchet (689 pts), 57 over Simon (662 pts), holder of the big crystal globe, and 48 over the Italian Lisa Vittozzi (671 pts), sandwiched between the two French women, when a victory brings 90 points.
Behind, in fifth position, the Swede Elvira Oeberg is more than a hundred points behind Tandrevold.
But, in terms of current form, the rating of the Norwegian N.1 plummeted with its rout at the recent World Championships in Nove Mesto (Czech Republic), where it failed outside the top 20 during the first three individual races (25th, 34th and 27th) and narrowly finished in the top 10 of the last.
On the contrary, Simon, double gold medalist, in sprint and pursuit, and bronze medalist in the individual in Nove Mesto, at worst ranked fourth in six races, also crowned twice in relay (women’s and mixed), comes out of Brilliant worlds. Like her, Braisaz-Bouchet and Vittozzi also came away with multiple medals, each with an individual world champion title, the first in the mass start, the second at the end of the individual.
“I think we’re going to have a hell of a fight between Justine (Braisaz-Bouchet), Julia (Simon) and Lisa (Vittozzi). I can see the thing coming to nothing, ultimately the last race,” imagines Frédéric Jean, former coach of the French women’s biathlon team who became a consultant for the L’Equipe channel.
“Julia has the advantage of having already been in this situation of playing for the general classification, Lisa perhaps too. Afterwards, Justine has been so far ahead of the rest on skis since the start of the season… She walks on water,” he compares.
For the trio, the question is whether they will have caught their breath, just ten days after the end of the 2024 Worlds. Especially since on the Oslo hill, the two longest biathlon formats await them, a 15 km individual on Thursday and a 12.5 km mass start on Saturday.
The world circuit will then fly to North America for the last two stages of the winter, first in the United States, in Soldier Hollow, Utah, where the Olympic events took place in 2002 , then in Canada, in Canmore, Olympic site in 1988.
On the men’s side, Norway, with Johannes Boe in the lead, currently holds the first six places in the general ranking.
The program for the 7th stage of the World Cup in Oslo:
