4x6km Mixed Relay

France’s Julia Simon totally controlled the anchor leg of this evening’s IBU World Championships Mixed Relay, not missing a shot and powerfully skiing to the Gold medal in 1:09:24.4. Simon and teammates, Eric Perrot, Quentin Fillon Maillet and Justine Braisaz-Bouchet had one penalty and nine spare rounds in claiming their first mixed relay WCH title since Oslo 2016. After a see-saw battle in the men’s legs, Braisaz-Bouchet took the lead after her standing stage, giving Simon a 6.4-second lead that the anchor extended to 45.2 seconds by the finish.

The evening of February 7, 2013: the Vysočina Arena was packed with 20,000 fans for the IBU World Championships Mixed Relay. Gabriela Soukalova remembers it well. “I felt a little bit more under pressure during the races at home. We all wanted to make a nice result and please the Czech fans and it happened. We finished third, winning the Bronze medal, so we were all very happy for such a success at the beginning of the Championships.”