Biathlon: Jeanmonnot wins the pursuit at Soldier Hollow, Simon 3rd

French biathlete Lou Jeanmonnot won the pursuit on Sunday in Soldier Hollow (Utah) in the United States, her third individual victory in the World Cup, at the penultimate stage of the season.

Jeanmonnot, who started in third position, won in the sprint ahead of the Italian Lisa Vittozzi, who like her scored a 19 out of 20 in shooting.

Third at 1 min 1 sec, with two missed targets, Julia Simon allows the French to once again climb two on the podium

Les Bleues du biathlon have ten individual victories in the World Cup this season, not counting their three world titles won in February in Nove Mesto, in the Czech Republic.

Jeanmonnot, who is only experiencing his second full winter in the big leagues at 25, had obtained his first two individual victories at the very beginning of winter.

Victorious in the sprint on Friday and starting thirteen seconds ahead of her closest pursuer (Tandrevold), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet failed to meet the targets: her 14 out of 20 pushed her back to seventh place, 1 min 25 sec behind Jeanmonnot .

In the race for the big crystal globe, Ingrid Tandrevold sees her leading position weaken, with three individual races remaining at the end of the season: the Norwegian, who failed in the standing shot by committing six faults, did not place than eleventh (1:54.), which allows Vittozzi to get closer to 73 points (891 pts against 964). A victory earns 90.

Behind Tandrevold and Vittozzi, three French women complete the top 5 in the general classification: Braisaz-Bouchet (881 points), Simon, holder of the big crystal globe (858 pts) and Jeanmonnot (828 pts).

Sprint, pursuit and mass start are scheduled next week in Canmore, Canada, for the ninth and final stage of the season.