How Julia Simon became the boss of the biathlon circuit through mental triggers, focused shooting practice, and consistency

Eighteen years after Sandrine Bailly, a French biathlete has finally won the general classification of the World Cup. Julia Simon won her first big crystal globe, a little over a month after being crowned world champion for the first time, Saturday March 18, during the Oslo-Holmenkollen sprint, which she finished at the fifth place. The 26-year-old Frenchwoman from Les Saisies is reaping the fruits of two years’ work, after a ups and downs in his career. Time to change your shot and build champion status.

Huge progress in prone shooting

Originally, Julia Simon is not a fan of shooting. Until 2021, she had never exceeded 80% success in a full season. Last season, that figure was 81.5%, and this year it has climbed to 88.6%. An improvement which is explained by major progress in prone shooting. When lying facing the targets, the biathlete has a success rate of 92.4%. “His prone shot is much more stable than it may have been in the past”notes Cyril Burdet, the manager of the French women’s team, underlining the specific work carried out with the dedicated shooting coach, Jean-Paul Giachino, “the last two years”.

“Today, she has such serenity that when she arrives on the first shots, she is almost permanently at the forefront at halfway to play in front from the start. This has a huge impact on the level of dynamic and on his mentality in the race”

Cyril Burdet, manager of the French women’s team

at Franceinfo: sports

His standing shot still does not make him one of the headliners in the exercise, but the staff of Les Bleues is not worried about it, his coach Cyril Burdet in the lead. “She has a very committed standing shot. She sometimes compensates for one or two errors with very high rates of fire, which put a lot of pressure on her opponents, especially on direct confrontation shots. It’s a card she plays regularly”.

Last Frenchwoman before her to have won the general classification of the World Cup, Sandrine Bailly hopes that she will not seek to erase what makes her unique: “From experience, by wanting too much to improve one’s weak points, one forgets one’s strong points. (…) For Julia, it’s exactly that and that’s where she was badass. She managed to work on this shot on the prone position by putting technique into it, but I find that when shooting standing up, she let her instinctive shot take over.

The reward after the search for consistency

Julia Simon has not always been a model of regularity. Before last season, she had never entered the Top 5 in two consecutive races. An anomaly erased by three consecutive podiums between December 2021 and January 2022. At the end of last season, the Frenchwoman entered the Top 10 overall in three of the four specialties for the first time. Today, she is in the Top 4 in all of them, finishing 70% of her races in the Top 5.

A progression that validates an objective from the beginning of the year, as Cyril Burdet confides: “We have implemented a preparation strategy with a distribution of volumes that is a little different from what it used to do. It seems to be paying off this year.”. Julia Simon had also made no secret of her great ambitions when taking command of the general : “I really feel like I have the weapons to keep this consistency and play for a regular ranking, and even the Top 5 overall”.

“It was completely part of his project. That’s what she wanted for this season, to gain consistency, on all formats and suddenly she made it happen.

Cyril Burdet, manager of the French women’s team

at Franceinfo: sports

Sandrine Bailly confirms that if Simon has passed a milestone, it’s because she makes it a point of honor to do well in the race, regardless of the specialty: “She is no longer the girl we know is strong in direct confrontation. For me now, Julia is strong on all tracks and in all formats.” Symbol of this regularity, it has chained nine podiums in 10 races this winter from Kontiolahti to Ruhpolding. A sequence during which she sported for the first time the World Cup leader bib.

Psychological stability

To get there, Julia Simon was also able to rely on a foolproof mind. An aspect underlined by Sandrine Bailly: “Pometimes, you win a globe in difficulty, in these small races where you are a little less well physically, a little damaged, where you can easily get through and finish beyond 30th place. She, finally, managed to always stay well placed and always score big points”. Words that corroborate those of Julia Simon after the Hochfilzen sprint: “C’éwas the objective of the winter, to be present at the front and to be able to compete with the best even when I am not very well. You also have to know how not to listen to yourself and hurt yourself, and today that’s what I did”.

“From time to time, she is less good in skiing. It’s more difficult, but she will rely on great mental strength which means that she won’t give up.

Sandrine Bailly, ex-biathlete winner of the World Cup

at Franceinfo: sports

Arrived in the France group this year, Cyril Burdet is impressed by his mental strength. “I think she’s someone who has always had confidence in her (…). Today, she really gives this feeling that nothing can happen to her”. Julia Simon now has the opportunity to establish herself as one of the patrons of the circuit, which Sandrine Bailly can well imagine her accomplishing: “I think she’s ready to ride this beautiful wave and it’s not going to stop anytime soon.”