By Philip O’Connor
ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 18 (Reuters) – Julia Simon cruised around the final lap to ensure a dominant victory for France in the women’s 4x6km relay at the Milano Cortina Games on Wednesday, picking up her third gold medal of the Games after a superb third leg from Oceane Michelon set them up to win.
The Swedish team anchored by Hanna Oeberg came in second to secure the silver, 51.3 seconds after the winners, with Norway taking the bronze.
Each biathlete faced three laps of the 2-km track and two visits to the shooting range – one prone, one standing – where up to three misses could be atoned for with an extra round before a penalty lap was incurred.
Those three extra rounds were used liberally over the first two legs by favourites France, Norway, Sweden and Germany, who all shot wide of the mark, resulting in the lead changing hands repeatedly.
That enabled smaller nations like Bulgaria, Latvia and Czech Republic to make some of the early running, but the stronger nations quickly recovered and left them in their wake by the third leg.
Once their shooting woes were sorted out, France again seemed to have faster skis than the rest of the field and Michelon took control of the race for them in the third leg with a perfect prone shoot, felling her five targets in rapid succession to emerge with a substantial lead.
Under no pressure, Simon was free to ski the course as if she was out practicing, but she rounded off her performance by shooting a stunning rapid-fire series of five final shots before setting off on what turned into a victory lap.
That left Sweden and Norway to battle it out for the final two spots on the podium, with Swede Hanna Oeberg holding her nerve against Maren Kirkeeide of Norway on the final leg to take the silver.
(Reporting by Philip O’ConnorEditing by Christian Radnedge)
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