Simona Crăciun is a sports soldier and studies sports. She lives and trains in Șirnea . The Romanian competes for CSAMB Predeal and is trained by Ileana Hangan . She has been practicing biathlon since 1999. Her first international appearances were at the junior competitions of the Biathlon European Championships in 2000 in Kościelisko , where she was lapped 34th in the individual, 37th in the sprint and in the pursuit race. With Dana Plotogea and Alexandra Stoian , she also came in seventh place in the relay race. The following year Crăciun was 36th in the sprint, 29th in the pursuit and 28th in the individual in Haute-Maurienne . In the same line-up as in the previous year, she ran again with the Romanian relay, this year as fourth-placed team just missed a medal. In 2002 she took part in the Junior World Championships in Ridanna . Crăciun was 60th of the individual, 55th in the sprint and 12th with the relay. The last time she started in Haute Maurienne in 2004 was a Junior World Championship, where she was eleventh in the individual, 37th in the sprint and 43rd in the pursuit. The last major event among the juniors was the 2004 Summer Biathlon World Championships in Osrblie . The Romanian was eighth in the sprint race, 18th in the pursuit, seventh in the mass start and won the bronze medal with Emöke Szöcs and Stoian.
For women, Crăciun made her debut as part of the 2001/2002 Biathlon World Cup . Her first race was here in an individual just before the turn of the year in Pokljuka , where she was 103rd. It was not until 2004 that she came to the next World Cup competition in Antholz and was 83rd in a sprint. It was also the Romania's best World Cup result so far. At the military World Ski Championships in 2004 in Östersund , she reached 45th place in the sprint, with the military patrol she reached ninth place. The Romanian competed in her last race in the World Cup in 2004, and between 2005 and 2007 she took part in races in the European Biathlon Cup . Only in her last race, a sprint in Cesana San Sicario , was she able to win 27 points. At the 2007 Military World Ski Championships in Estonia , she was eighth in patrol, 39th in sprint and ninth in the team standings. A year later she came in sprint in Hochfilzen on 41st place, was tenth in the team classification, ninth with the patrol, 34th in cross-country skiing and eighth with the cross-country team. Later in the year Crăciun achieved her greatest international success. At the Summer Biathlon European Championships in Bansko in 2008 , she won the bronze medal behind Russia and the Czech Republic with Réka Ferencz , Alexandru Tişcă and Claudiu Suciu in the mixed competition.
Biathlon World Cup placements
The table shows all placements (depending on the year, including the Olympic Games and World Championships).
1st - 3rd Place: Number of podium placements
Top 10: Number of placements in the top ten (including podium)
Points ranks: Number of placements within the point ranks (including podium and top 10)
Starts: Number of races run in the respective discipline
Romania
