ANTERSELVA – The biggest surprise of the Milano Cortina Games so far came Wednesday as Lora Hristova of Bulgaria secured a bronze medal in the biathlon individual race, a feat her coach Wolfgang Pichler seemingly predicted all along.
The 71-year-old Pichler, a legendary German coach, is in his second season with the Bulgarian team and celebrated the bronze with the 22-year-old Hristova. Only French stars Julia Simon and Lou Jeanmonnot finished ahead of her in the pursuit race at Anterselva.
“I know how to raise champions,” Pichler told reporters, having previously guided numerous Swedish biathletes to success, including Magdalena Forsberg and Hanna Öberg. Hristova’s achievement marks the third Olympic medal for Bulgarian biathlon and the first in 24 years, echoing Irina Nikulčina’s success and the gold won by Jekaterina Dafovská at Nagano in 1998.
Hristova hit all 20 targets on Wednesday, surpassing a field of established stars. “It is one of the best medals (in my career). We are a very compact team, we don’t have much support, but we have really hard work and a quality team. I know that my system works,” Pichler said, experiencing his tenth Winter Olympic Games as a coach.
Pichler had a feeling a strong result was possible even before Wednesday’s race. “In Sunday’s mixed race, I saw that they were going well, so the skis were good, and the overall performance was also good. So I believed that we could do something here. Every time I talked about a medal, they laughed. But that was my plan. Tonight, I will open many bottles of wine,” he said with a smile.
Pichler took charge of the Bulgarian team through the International Biathlon Union’s (IBU) “Close the gap” development program. And the small biathlon nation – for today, at least – found itself on the podium. “It was crazy,” Christovová told media, describing her feelings upon hearing her name during the ceremony. “I still can’t believe I was standing next to real legends,” she added.
Fotogaléria k článku Počet fotiek: 9
- Autor: © Zoznam/
- Zdroj: ČTK
