Success in standing shooting carried Simon to victory – Minkkinen fought her way to ninth place

Simon shot her only miss in the first prone shooting. She was joined on the podium by the Swedes, with Elvira Öberg finishing second and Anna Magnusson third.

Simon secured her victory in the standing stages, where Öberg missed one shot in both. Öberg finished 5.6 seconds behind the winner.

“Honestly, before the race, no confidence at all. It was very difficult to focus. I felt very tired after the Olympics. I asked my coach to give me a motivation speech, and it worked. After the prone I felt confident. I just wanted to enjoy and have fun. I’m really happy. This gave me a lot of confidence for the next races,” Simon told to biathlonworld.com.

Suvi Minkkinen fought brilliantly and finished ninth. She missed one shot at the second prone but climbed toward the top after that. In the end, she was only 24.7 seconds behind the winner.

“It was a crisp run, and the pace was fast right from the start. On the fourth lap I felt that others were starting to struggle too, and I got a glimmer of hope to keep fighting. It was a tough battle all the way to the finish. I’m disappointed because I really wanted to make it to the flower ceremony here in front of the home crowd,” Minkkinen said.

---

Original text: Heidi Lehikoinen
English text: Hanna Sairanen