Julia Simon Wins in Rough Conditions at Pokljuka Women’s 12.5 km Shot Individual

Julia Simon Thrives in Rough Conditions at Pokljuka Women’s 12.5 km Shot Individual

Introduction

The Pokljuka Women’s 12.5 km Shot Individual race turned into a fight with the elements; temperatures above zero Celsius and heavy winds made for slow conditions with wet snow on the trails. That being said, world champion Julia Simon of France flexed her muscle despite tough conditions and shot clean to take the win in 38:08.2. It was her third victory of the season and her second-consecutive Individual competition victory following her World Championships win in Lenzerheide.

🥹 C'est une Julia Simon très émue que l'on retrouve sur la plus haute marche du podium…

Regardez les Mondiaux de biathlon jusqu'au 23 février sur Eurosport #ChaletClub pic.twitter.com/on6qz2aSFR

— Eurosport France (@Eurosport_FR) February 18, 2025

A Lucky Start for Julia Simon

Simon also credited part of her success to her early start number of bib 19. Looking back on her race, she recognized the circumstances were tough, but felt lucky.

“It was a tough race today. I think I was fortunate to go before all the other start slots, because when I watched the shooting range ten minutes ago, the wind was stronger than it was during my race. The tracks were pretty hard, but it was OK at the shooting range during the race. I feel really happy and lucky to win this race today.”

Victory in Every Discipline – Julia Simon

This victory gave Simon another notch in her belt, a victory of every biathlon discipline. As the current World Cup Total Score champion, her focus was on versatility.

“Very happy, say in order to be a good biathlete you have to win in each discipline; very happy to shoot twenty in the individual races.

Oeberg, Preuss on Podium

Hanna Oeberg, of Sweden, placed second, 39.1 seconds behind Simon and also had one penalty. Germany’s Franziska Preuss, running in the Yellow Bib, shot clean to place third, 46.2 seconds off the pace.

Preuss stressed the importance of precision shooting in her display:

“My focus was shooting clean. That was really important in the last loop because I lost a lot of seconds in there.”

Heidjenberg Is Finally Showing His Best

Anna-Karin Heidjenberg of Sweden produced a massive personal best in fourth place, 46.2 seconds behind the winner. This was a considerable improvement on her previous best finish, which was 14th in the season-opening Kontiolahti Short Individual.

Oceane Michelon (who had two penalties) and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet of France followed in fifth and sixth place, crossing the line 1:06.9 and 1:19.4 behind Simon, respectively.

Jeanmonnot Takes Individual Score of World Cup

France’s Lou Jeanmonnot took seventh, 1:43.6 off Julia Simon and with two penalties. She fell short of the podium but finished with an accumulated point total to take her first ever small Crystal Globe for the World Cup Individual score.

Summary

In Pokljuka, the rescheduled Individual event was highlighted by rough weather and changeable winds across the shooting range. Simon stayed clean and moved into first place. That saw Oeberg and Preuss in second and third, and big (and long) gun Heidjenberg not too far back for a career best. Jeanmonnot took the Individual Score title despite his seventh-place finish, as France continued to dominate the event.