Julia Simon shines in yellow bib with pursuit success to consolidate top spot overall biathlon standings.

Julia Simon made it two pursuit wins from two World Cup events as she consolidated her position at the top of the overall biathlon standings.

The Frenchwoman finished third in Friday’s sprint in Hochfilzen to move top of the overall standings and lived up to that position with an outstanding performance to clinch a second win of the season.

She missed just once across the four shoots to finish 19.6 seconds clear of Norway’s Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold.

Marketa Davidova, who finished second in the sprint, completed the podium ahead of Elvira Oeberg and Denise Herrmann-Wick.

The win sees Simon extend her lead in the overall World Cup standings to 65 points, sitting on 310 with Tandrevold her nearest rival.

Simon said: “It is amazing! It is incredible! It is something really special to win in the yellow bib. It was crazy! It was so fun to race in the yellow bib and I took a lot of pleasure in that.”

Later in the day, Norway continued their dominant start on the men’s side as Johannes Thingnes Boe’s stunning third leg allowed them to record a massive win in the 4×7.5km relay.

Taking over with a narrow advantage, Boe shot clear and came home with more than a minute’s advantage to the rest of the field, allow Vetle Sjaastad Christensen to ease to victory. Sturla Holm Laegreid and Filip Fjeld Andersen had earlier kept Norway in the hunt before Boe’s decisive leg.

Sweden took second ahead of Germany, with France missing out on a podium as Quentin Fillon Maillet, last year’s overall World Cup champion, faltered on the range on the anchor leg.