France's Julia Simon and Lou Jeanmonnot take gold and silver in Olympic biathlon

ANTERSELVA, Italy — 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 feels like a dream right now,'' Simon said after the race. "It's amazing. It's a race I have dreamed of.''

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.

Jeanmonnot said she thought her chances of medaling were over after her second mistake.

''Maybe that helped me to do attention to the shooting of the last one because I was truly believing I was really done,'' she said.

Lora Hristova of Bulgaria shot a perfect race to secure a bronze medal and upset the favorites from Italy, Germany, Norway and Sweden, who have often stood atop the podium in individual Olympic biathlon competitions. Hristova finished 1:04 behind Simon.

''I tried not to think about the result,'' she said. ''I tried to focus on my shooting, on my skiing, on my technique. I think that I managed to make the best I can do. I am very proud, because I know that I'm capable of shooting clear.''

Vanessa Voigt of Germany finished fourth, 1:17 behind. Voigt also was fourth in the individual race at the Beijing Games. 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.

American Margie Freed, racing in her first Olympics, came in 21st and secured the top result for the U.S. with only one miss on the day. Teammate Deedra Irwin missed three and finished 34th. Irwin secured a historic seventh-place finish at the 2022 Beijing Games – which remains the best Olympic result by an American biathlete.

Irwin's teammate — three-time Olympian Joanne Reid, who recently returned to competition after a two-year break — was 68th. New-to-biathlon teammate Luci Anderson came in 84th.

Simon is coming off a tough year. She received a six-month ban from competing after being found guilty of theft and credit card fraud by a French court and got a three-month suspended prison sentence. The French ski federation decided in November that she would be allowed to compete in the Winter Games.

When asked about her recent troubles during the press conference, she said she was focused on her sport.

''I have a lot of pleasure, when I train, when I race, when I compete, so it's the most important thing for me,'' she said. ''I know I had a goal. I put all my energy in this goal, in myself. It was difficult months but I'm really proud of myself and today was a perfect race for me.''

All three medalists in the individual race at the 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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