Gabriela Soukalová
Gabriela Koukalová (2010)
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| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Gabriela Koukalová |
| Born |
1 November 1989 Jablonec nad Nisou, Czechoslovakia |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) |
| Website | gabrielasoukalova.com |
| Professional information | |
| Sport | Biathlon |
| Club | SG Jablonec nad Nisou |
| Skis | Fischer |
| World Cup debut | 11 December 2009 |
| Olympic Games | |
| Teams | 2 (2010, 2014) |
| Medals | 2 (0 gold) |
| World Championships | |
| Teams | 5 (2010, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017) |
| Medals | 6 (2 gold) |
| World Cup | |
| Seasons | 6 (2009/10–) |
| Individual victories | 17 |
| All victories | 23 |
| Individual podiums | 39 |
| All podiums | 56 |
| Overall titles | 1 (2015–16) |
| Discipline titles |
6: 1 Individual (2013–14) 2 Sprint (2015–16, 2016–17) 1 Pursuit (2015–16) 2 Mass Start (2015–16, 2016–17) |
Gabriela Koukalová, née Soukalová (Czech pronunciation: [ˈɡabrɪjɛla ˈkou̯kalovaː/ˈsou̯kalovaː], born 1 November 1989, Jablonec nad Nisou, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech biathlete. She won two Olympic silver medals at the 2014 Sochi Games and she is a two times World Championship winner, Gold Medalist at the 2015 Kontiolahti in Mixed relay and Gold medalist at 2017 Hochfilzen in 7.5 km sprint. In the season 2015/2016 (World Cup) she has got the Crystal Globe, the complete collection of her actual awards includes also four Small Crystal Globes (the first - 2013/2014 season for individual races, the next three were taken during the season 2015/2016 for the sprint, pursuit and mass-start races).
Koukalová began her biathlon career in 2005. After several years she made good progress at the national level and got more attention from trainers of the national Olympic team. In 2007 Koukalová became a member of the national team, in 2008 she took part in the Biathlon Junior World Championship. Her first experience at the international level was not very good: Koukalová was worse at that time then many others both in shooting performance and skiing speed, she was no better than 22nd. Nevertheless, this unsuccessful period did not disappoint the trainers and they gave her a chance to take part in some international competitions, e.g. in IBU Cup in biathlon (the season 2008/09). The hard work and experience led to improved personal performance: Koukalová, despite some difficulties in shooting became better than Olga Vilukhina and helped the Czech team to win a gold.
Taking time and growing in the performance Gabriela for the first time was taking part in the Biathlon World Cup (BWC) in December, 2009. Perhaps due to a relatively low speed trainers made the decision to let her take part in IBU Cup again, but that period was not too long because she regularly won with good results and took a silver medal (Sprint race, European Championships). Because of the good progress she made, the trainers include her into the national team, she represented Czech Republic at the World Cup and 2010 Winter Olympics.
In time the results became better. The first significant success was recorded in December, 2011: in a Mixed Relay (the World Cup, Austria) she helped to win the second place as a member of the Czech team. Her several impressive wins in the Biathlon World Cup came during the 2012–13 season, where she had four wins. She added three more wins in the 2013–14 World Cup season. At the 2014 Winter Olympics, she finished fourth in both the 10 km Pursuit and 15 km individual before winning silver medals in both the 12.5 km Mass Start and Mixed relay (together with Veronika Vítková, Jaroslav Soukup and Ondřej Moravec).
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