Antholz conclusion: Simon’s declaration of war on the competition

At the start of the season, Julia Simon was not yet in top form. The reigning overall World Cup winner has now found this again, as proven in the last race of the Antholz World Cup.

21 January 2024

From: dl

From Antholz – by David Lechthaler

What a challenge from Simon: The Frenchwoman won the mass start in Antholz in a relatively confident manner despite a shooting error. From the start, the 27-year-old made it clear on Sunday that victory today was hers alone. Before the last shooting, she passed the in-form Lou Jeanmonnot again. The flawless Frenchwoman ended up in third place, almost 10 seconds behind Simon. Individual winner Lena Häcki-Gross from Switzerland came third.

With her second win of the season, Simon underlined that she will also be a force to be reckoned with in the overall World Cup this year. She is currently in 4th place. The gap to Lisa Vittozzi (3rd), Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold is not exactly big. With this running form, Simon is once again very dangerous in the fight for the red jersey.

Vittozzi misses the podium

Vittozzi was also in the fight for the podium for a long time on Sunday. In the last shooting, the Italian missed once and ended up in 6th place. Vittozzi didn't quite match the running form of the last few days.

There was no South Tyrolean in the mass start, because Dorothea Wierer had voluntarily forgone her start that morning. 3 races in 3 days is simply not possible for “Doro” after her long break. She had already indicated that after the mixed relay. Wierer was still present in Antholz on Sunday – as a spectator. Now the full focus is on the World Cup in Nove Mesto, which will take place from February 7th to 18th.