Biathlon World Cup: French party also in the mass start – Voigt fifth

Justine Braisaz-Bouchet won the last women’s race at the Biathlon World Championships in Nove Mesto. The Frenchwoman won the mass start in a dominant manner on Sunday (February 18, 2024). The best German starter was Vanessa Voigt, who came in a good fifth place.

Braisaz-Bouchet crossed the finish line after 12.5 kilometers and four shooting sessions without any mistakes in 34:37.2 minutes. She thus relegated the Italian Lisa Vittozzi to second place (0 errors/+31.2 seconds). Another Frenchwoman, Lou Jeanmonnot, secured bronze (1/+56.7 seconds). Julia Simon (3/+1:24.9 minutes), an athlete from the dominant nation at this World Championships, also came in fourth.

Vanessa Voigt crossed the finish line in fifth place (0/+1:29.7 min). Franziska Preuß, who took part in the relay on Saturday “new sore throat” had missed, was somewhat weakened by health problems and was unable to deliver her top performance and came eleventh (1/+1:51.9 min). Janina Hettich-Walz came 28th after three errors, youngster Selina Grotian finished her first World Championships after seven errors with 30th and last place.

Voigt: “Don’t blame everything on form!”

“It felt like we were on a plane today. Business class in the front and us behind it was more like second class.”, Voigt then described her conciliatory World Cup connection on ZDF. Already in the first round she noticed that she was in the lead “can’t keep up”. The Thuringian couldn’t explain directly what caused these clear differences, whether due to the shape, the skis or other influences. “But I don’t want to blame everything on the form! Something else also plays a role.” Without the dominating French women, Voigt calculated that she would be in second place and that’s what she showed “extremely satisfied”.

Only Vittozzi can do France High-flyers annoy

For France it was the sixth gold medal in the seventh World Cup race in the Czech Republic with female participation. Only Lisa Vittozzi was able to break through the phalanx in the individual. Simon won the sprint and pursuit as well as the all-women’s relay and the mixed relay. Braisaz-Bouchet was also successful in these two, and now the third title in the mass start followed. In addition to the relay, Jeanmonnot was also successful in the single mixed.

French women pick up the pace straight away

And on Sunday too, the French women showed from the start of the race why they are the dominant nation in these title fights. Julia Simon, Justine Braisaz-Bouchet and Lou Jeanmonnot set the pace and already opened up a small gap on the way to the first shooting. Simon got through the fastest and was able to pull away from Braisaz-Bouchet. Third-placed Lisa Vittozzi from Italy was already 14.5 seconds behind. From the German quartet, Franziska Preuß and Vanessa Voigt made no mistakes and finished in eighth and ninth place, almost 20 seconds behind. Janina Hettich-Walz had to complete one penalty lap, Selina Grotian even had two.

Change at the top

On the second prone attempt, Simon made a mistake and had to let her compatriot Braisaz-Bouchet and three other opponents pass. The Norwegian Juni Arnekleiv was second ahead of Vittozzi. Franziska Preuß also had to complete a penalty lap and initially finished in 18th place (+52.9 seconds). Voigt, on the other hand, remained flawless and finished ninth, almost half a minute behind the leaders. Hettich-Walz was able to work her way forward a little after five hits, while Grotian fell back to last place after her third mistake.

Braisaz-Bouchet runs away

Braisaz-Bouchet came into the first standing stage almost half a minute ahead and was able to maintain this lead after five goals. Simon, who had meanwhile moved back up to second position, had to go into the penalty loop again. At this point, Vittozzi and Jeanmonnot held the other podium places. Voigt again made no mistakes and maintained her ninth place. However, the deficit had grown to just under a minute. Franziska Preuß moved up to eleventh place with a sparkling clean performance (+1:15.4 minutes). Hettich-Walz and Grotian remained at the back of the field after further mistakes.

Cheers after the last shot

A further five goals from Braisaz-Bouchet meant she was assured of her third gold medal at the World Championships. She went on the final lap with a big grin on her face. Behind him, Vittozzi secured silver with an equally flawless performance. Teammates Jeanmonnot and Simon now dueled for third place, with the latter unable to close the gap.

Voigt also hit her shots 16 to 20 and was able to move forward a little and achieve a decent fifth place. Preuß also scored a “zero”, but on the final lap she no longer had enough points to defend her seventh place. Hettich-Walz (another mistake) and Grotian (three more mistakes) allowed the race to coast to a halt.