Koukalova, Gabriela

Gabriela's mother, Gabriela Soukalova-Svobodova , acted in cross-country skiing , representing Czechoslovakia , in 1984 became the winner of the Olympic Games in the relay race, and later assisted her daughter in training as a personal trainer. Gabriela's father is a biathlon coach, the first coach of her daughter.

On May 13, 2016, Gabriela Soukalova married 30-year-old badminton player Peter Koukala and took her husband's name, Koukalova.

Gabriela first tried herself in ski racing with shooting in 2005. For several years she has achieved good results at the national level and attracted the attention of the national team coaches in her age group.

In 2007, she was first attracted to a collection with a national team , and in 2008 she was first sent along with the national team to a regional championship - the junior world championship . The first experience at a similar level was not too successful: Soukalova was worse than very many, both in running speed and shooting accuracy and in three races never finished higher than twenty-second place. The first failures did not disappoint the coaches' abilities of the athletes, and she continued to occasionally give chances to prove herself at international competitions: in the 2008/09 season she was allowed to run the Czech stage of the continental Cup and again declared Soukalova to the junior world championship. The work being done gradually manifested itself: the results in personal races are improving, and in the relay Gabriela helps the Czech women to win the gold medal, despite the imperfect shooting, keeping Olga Vilukhina behind herself.

Gradually, Soukalova is announced at an increasing number of international starts, and in December 2009 she is given the chance to hold her first race at the World Cup . Speed ​​on the track does not allow the Czech woman to fight for places in the point zone, and after several races at this level in the 2009/10 season, coaches decide to transfer it back to continental competitions. There Soukalova, however, remains short-lived: in six stages she reaches the level of the leaders of this series, regularly finishes in the podium positions and wins the silver medal in the sprint race at the European Championship . Noting the progress of one of his recent juniors, the Czech national team coaching headquarters gives Soukalova the right to play in that year at the World Championships, and then introduces her to the core team in the World Cup.

The return is not perfect, but gradually the results are getting higher. In December 2011, the first significant success comes: at the World Cup in Austria, Soukalova helps the Czech relay team to win second place in the mixed relay . Nothing special stands out during this period, Gabriela abruptly adds in the offseason of 2012 and from the first races of the 2012/13 season declares herself as a potential new leader ^{[4] of the} women's World Cup, having started to regularly fall into the points zone. At the third stage, she was marked by three podium finishes and won her debut victory at this level - in the sprint race. Reaching a new level required too large changes in preparation, which ultimately affected health: a small cold led to the omission of several stages ^[5] and a decrease in results. The problems, however, gradually managed to be overcome, and by the end of the year, the Czech woman regained her best form, distinguishing herself with three victories in individual races at the Khanty-Mansiysk stage and ending the year at the sixth line in the overall World Cup.

In the first race of the Olympic season in Ostersund, Sweden, Gabriela, along with Veronika Vitkova , Zdenek Vitek and Ondřej Moravec won the mixed relay ^[6] . The Czechs were 10 seconds ahead of the Norwegians ^[7] . In the first personal race of the season - individual - Soukalova also won with a two-minute penalty ^[8] , for the first time in her career she tried on a yellow jersey . Having won one more individual race at the stage in Ruhpolding , the Czech won a small crystal globe in this discipline. In the Antholz stage sprint, Gabriela was disqualified for incorrect manipulation of the weapon when replacing a rifle with a broken bolt ^[9] .

At the Olympics, Gabriela made her first appearance in 2010 in Vancouver (her debut was unsuccessful: only the 60th was in the personal championship of Soukalov, the 16th in the relay). Four years later, at the Olympics in Sochi, Gabriela performed much more productively: she became the 29th in the sprint, the fourth in the pursuit, and the 4th in the individual race again. Gabriela was crowned by the mass start of the Olympics in Sochi - here Soukalova managed to take second place and get a silver medal. Gabriela won her second silver medal at the Olympics in the mixed relay. In the relay race, the Czechs finished fourth, but after the disqualification of the Russians, who won silver ^[10] , Soukalova and her teammates became bronze medalists of the race.

After performing at the Olympics due to illness, he misses the stage in Pokljuka , thus losing the chances of fighting for the World Cup. After returning from an illness, at the stage in Kontiolahti, he won a bronze medal in the sprint race. The last stage in Holmenkollen Soukalova spends on the background of fatigue, so the best result is the fifth place in the sprint. In the overall World Cup 2013/2014, Gabriela eventually finished fourth.

Before the start of the 2014/15 season, Gabriela was unwell, which made the preparation blurry. The first stage in Östersund turns out to be very difficult for Soukalova: because of her poor form, the coaches do not put her into the mixed relay. In her first start, the individual race, Gabriela does not score points, showing only the 62nd result. Subsequent races are also unsuccessful: in the sprint - the 29th, in the pursuit - the 21st. At the second stage in Hochfilzen Soukalova as part of the Czech team won the bronze medal in the women's relay. This success adds to Gabriele confidence in the next races. At the stage in Pokljuka, she wins the sprint race. The fourth stage of the World Cup in Oberhof began for Gabriela Soukalova with a victory in the Czech team in the relay race. At the fifth stage in Ruhpolding, the Czechs repeat their success in the relay, thus making a winning double. At the sixth stage in Antholz, personal races were unsuccessful for Soukalova: 23rd place in the sprint and 21 in the pursuit. The relay race develops more successfully and brings another medal to Gabriele - the Czechs are second, losing to the German national team. At the home stage in the Czech Nové Mesto Gabriela wins silver in the mixed relay. At the last stage before the World Championships in Norwegian Holmenkollen, Soukalova gains stability and doubles in the top ten - the ninth in the individual race and the fifth in the sprint. In the relay Gabriela ran her second stage, in the end, the Czechs scored their third victory of the season.

At the 2015 World Championships in Kontiolahti, Gabriela first became a world champion, winning the mixed relay in the Czech team. In the sprint race, she took 18th place with three misses on the rack, and in the pursuit race she was able to move up to the fifth. In the individual race Soukalova wins the silver medal, which becomes her second in this world championship.

At the final stage in Khanty-Mansiysk, in the last race of the season, Soukalova managed to win a silver medal in the race from a general start. In the final standings, Gabriela finished the season in sixth overall.

In the season 2015/2016 Gabriela is pleased with good performances: the biathletes continued the World Cup with individual races and at stage 5 (January 14, 2016) of Gabriele Soukalova even unclosed targets did not prevent them from rising to the podium. Thus, Gabriela, demonstrating good stability (did not fall below 11th place this season), continues to lead in the overall World Cup. On January 16, a women's mass start at 12.5 km took place in Ruhpolding within the framework of the fifth stage of the Biathlon World Cup and Gabriela Soukalova again leads in mass start. This victory was her tenth in the World Cup career. Among the victories is also the team silver in the women's 4x6 km relay (Anterselva, January 24, 2016), as well as the third place in the Mass start at the Canadian Canmore. In Presque Isle, on 11 and 12 February 2016, she became the best in the 7.5 km sprint and in the 10 km pursuit, still showing a combination of good accuracy in shooting and excellent overall fitness. On February 13, the Czech team with the participation of Gabriela confidently won the Relay. Despite small failures in races in Norway, Gabriela did not give up and continued to fight, having shown a very good result in the sprint (Russia, Khanty-Mansiysk, March 17, 2016), with good confidence winning the Small Crystal Globe (413 points). The next day, she was fourth in the pursuit, but demonstrated excellent speed and shooting. She also won the Small Crystal Globe in Mass Start (241 points). During the entire period of the 2015/2016 World Cup competition, she led the overall standings on points and on March 20, 2016, won the main prize of the World Cup - the Big Crystal Globe (1074 points).

At the beginning of the new season 2016/2017 , which began in the Swedish city of Ostersund on November 27, 2016, she and her teammates took the 7th place in the mixed relay. And although on November 30 the individual race for 15 km was not very successful for Gabriela (17th place), a little later, on December 3, she took the third place in the 7.5 km sprint race, and on December 4, 2016, the first place in the pursuit race , showing confident results in shooting and speed. The next medal was won by Gabriela during the mass start (3rd stage, Nové Mesto) - she confidently won first place, ahead of Laura Dahlmeier and Dorothea Wierer .

At the end of the 2016/2017 season, Koukalova received more than 5.7 million crowns (before taxes) from IBU and the Czech Biathlon Union ( czech Český svaz biatlonu ). Also possible fees for personal advertising contracts amounted to about 5 million crowns ^[11] .

Before the start of the 2017/2018 Olympic season, it became known that Gabriela was experiencing problems with the calf muscles ^[12] and would miss the start of the season ^[13] . Her participation in the Olympics in Pyeongchang is questionable.

In January 2018, it was announced that Gabriela Koukalova would miss the 2018 Olympics in Pyeongchang and end the season ahead of schedule.

On April 7, 2018, the biathlete on her Facebook page and in the media during the campaign for garbage collection reported that she missed the 2018/2019 season and was uncertain about the continuation of her career ^[14] .

On May 28, 2019 Gabriela Koukalova decided to end her career ^[15] .

Summary statistics of speeches by seasons

Victory

Second places

Third places

Notes:

1. ↑ As part of the 2017 World Cup

Prizes in relay races

Summary statistics of speeches by seasons

Prizes at the IBU Cup (Europe)

European Championships

Junior World Championships

• Official site

• Profile on the IBU website
• Profile on biathlon.com.ua (inaccessible link)