ANTERSELVA, Italy (AP) — Julia Simon became the first Frenchwoman to win an Olympic gold medal in the women’s 15-kilometer individual biathlon race and teammate Lou Jeanmonnot took silver at the the Milan Cortina Games on Wednesday.
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 1:04 behind Simon.
Vanessa Voigt of Germany finished fourth, 1:17 behind, while Dorothea Wierer of Italy was fifth, 1:33 back.
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.
All three medalists in the individual race at the 2022 Beijing Olympics have retired, but Hanna Oeberg of Sweden won gold at the 2018 Pyeongchang Games. Oeberg missed three targets on Wednesday and finished a disappointing 41st — 4:04 behind.
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AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
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France’s Julia Simon and Lou Jeanmonnot take gold and silver in Olympic biathlon
