Gabriela Koukalová

Gabriela Koukalová

220px Gabriela Koukalová (2010)
Personal information
Full name	Gabriela Koukalová
Born	(1989-11-01) 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)
Medals	3 (1 gold)
World Cup
Seasons	6 (2009/10–)
Individual races	111
All races	146
Individual victories	12
All victories	18
Individual podiums	25
All podiums	41
Overall titles	1 (2015-16)
Discipline titles	4: 1 Individual (2013–14) 1 Sprint (2015–16) 1 Pursuit (2015–16) 1 Mass Start (2015–16)
Medal record Women's biathlon Representing Czech Republic Olympic Games 2014 Sochi 12.5 km Mass start 2014 Sochi Mixed relay World Championships 2015 Kontiolahti Mixed relay 2015 Kontiolahti 15 km individual 2013 Nové Město Mixed relay
Updated on 19 March 2016.

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. 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).

Career

Soukalová began her biathlon career in 2005. After several years she made a good progress at the national level and got more attention from trainers of the national olympic team. Since 2007 Gabriela began a member of the national team, in 2008 she took part in the Biathlon Junior World Championship. The first experience at the international level was not very good: G.Soukalova was worse at that time then many others both in shooting performans and running speed, she could not be better than 22 in the rank. Nevertheless, this unsuccessful period did not disappoint the trainers and they give 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 improving of the personal performans: Gabriela, despite some difficulties in shooting had become better than Olga Vilukhina and helps 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 siver 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 are becoming better. The first significant success was recorded in December, 2011: in a MIxed Relay (the World Cup, Austria) she helps 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).

At the World Championships 2015 in Kontiolahti Gabriela first became a world champion by winning in the mixed relay as a member of the Czech team. In the sprint race she took 18th place with three penalties, but in the pursuit she was able to climb to fifth place. In the individual race Soukalova wins silver medal, it became her second medal at this World Cup. At the final stage in Khanty-Mansiysk in the last race of the season Soukalova managed to win a silver medal in the race with a mass start. In the final rank Gabriela had finished the season 2015 at sixth place (752 points).

In the new season Gabriela shows a good performance: at the fifth stage of the World Cup (January,14, 2016) even two unclosed targets did not prevented her rise to the podium. Thus, Gabriela is showing good stability (not lower than 11 place in the season) and she is continues to lead. In the Mass Start 12.5 km (January, 16, 2016) she won and got her tenth victory in the Biathlon World Cup. She also helps to win a silver for the team in the relay race (4x6 km, January 24, 2016) and took a third place in the Mass Start in Canada (February, 6, 2016). In the USA (Presque Isle, February, 11, 2016) in Sprint has got the best result showing a perfect accuracy and an excellent performance. Next days brought two gold medals (10 km Pursuit and 4x6 km Relay). Despite some unlucky races in Norway Gabriela did not give up and has shown very good results in Sprint in Russia (Khanty-Mansiysk, March, 17, 2016), Small Crystal Globes has taken with a great confidence (413 points). Next day in Pursuit race she has got a fourth place, but with very good level both in speed and shooting. The second Small Crystal Globe has been taken in Mass Start (241 points). She was leading during the whole World Cup 2015/2016 competition period and has won the Crystal Globe (March, 20, 2016) with the final general rank of 1106 points.

Personal life

She is the daughter of Gabriela Svobodová, a former cross-country skier, who won an Olympic silver medal in the 4 x 5 km relay at Sarajevo in 1984. Later, her mother helps as a personal trainer.

Soukalová is in a relationship with a Czech professional badminton player Petr Koukal. They married on May 13, 2016, in historic unfinished church in Panenský Týnec.

Biathlon results

All results are sourced from the International Biathlon Union.

Olympic Games

• 2 medals (2 silver)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass Start	Relay	Mixed Relay
2010 Vancouver	60th	–	–	–	16th	N/A
2014 Sochi	4th	29th	4th	Silver	4th	Silver

*Mixed relay was added as an event in 2014.

World Championships

• 3 medals (1 gold, 1 silver, 1 bronze)

Event	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass Start	Relay	Mixed Relay
2010 Khanty-Mansiysk*	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	N/A	7th
2011 Khanty-Mansiysk	47th	25th	22nd	–	11th	11th
2013 Nové Město	12th	14th	20th	18th	10th	Bronze
2015 Kontiolahti	Silver	18th	5th	5th	8th	Gold
2016 Oslo	5th	4th	11th	4th	6th	6th

*During Olympic seasons competitions are only held for those events not included in the Olympic program.

World Cup

Season	Overall			Sprint			Pursuit			Individual			Mass Start
	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position	Races	Points	Position
2012/13	24/26	800	6th	9/10	313	6th	7/8	227	8th	3/3	94	7th	5/5	166	7th
2013/14	18/22	613	4th	8/9	238	5th	6/8	203	10th	2/2	120	1st	2/3	52	23rd
2014/15	25/25	752	6th	10/10	281	9th	7/7	195	7th	3/3	86	6th	5/5	200	4th
2015/16	25/25	1074	1st	9/9	413	1st	8/8	354	1st	3/3	128	3rd	5/5	241	1st

Individual victories

• 12 victories – (5 Sp, 3 Pu, 2 In, 2 MS)

No.	Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1	2012/13	14 December 2012	Pokljuka, Slovenia	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
2		14 March 2013	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
3		16 March 2013	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
4		17 March 2013	Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia	12.5 km Mass Start	World Cup
5	2013/14	28 November 2013	Östersund, Sweden	15 km Individual	World Cup
6		10 January 2014	Ruhpolding, Germany	15 km Individual	World Cup
7		12 January 2014	Ruhpolding, Germany	10 km Pursuit	World Cup
8	2014/15	18 December 2014	Pokljuka, Slovenia	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
9	2015/16	2 December 2015	Östersund, Sweden	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
10		16 January 2016	Ruhpolding, Germany	12.5 km Mass Start	World Cup
11		11 February 2016	Presque Isle, USA	7.5 km Sprint	World Cup
12		12 February 2016	Presque Isle, USA	10 km Pursuit	World Cup

Relay victories

• 6 victories – (4 Relay, 2 Mixed Relay)

No.	Season	Date	Location	Discipline	Level
1	2012/13	25 November 2012	Pokljuka, Slovenia	Mixed 2x6+2x7.5 km Relay	World Cup	(with Vítková / Vítek / Moravec)
2	2014/15	7 January 2015	Oberhof, Germany	4x6 km Relay	World Cup	(with Puskarčíková / Landová / Vítková)
3		14 January 2015	Ruhpolding, Germany	4x6 km Relay	World Cup	(with Puskarčíková / Landová / Vítková)
4		15 February 2015	Holmenkollen, Norway	4x6 km Relay	World Cup	(with Puskarčíková / Landová / Vítková)
5		5 March 2015	Kontiolahti, Finland	Mixed 2x6+2x7.5 km Relay	World Championships	(with Vítková / Šlesingr / Moravec)
6	2015/16	14 February 2016	Presque Isle, USA	4x6 km Relay	World Cup	(with Puskarčíková / Charvátová / Vítková)

Overall record

Result	Individual	Sprint	Pursuit	Mass start	Relay	Mixed relay	Total
1st place	2	5	3	2	4	2	18
2nd place	1	2	2	3	2	3	14
3rd place	1	1	1	2	2	3	10
4–10	6	13	10	6	11	2	48
11–20	1	9	9	4	4	2	29
21–40	-	7	6	1	–	–	14
41–60	2	5	2	–	–	–	9
Others	2	2	–	–	–	–	4
DNF	–	–	–	–	–	–	0
DSQ	–	1	–	–	–	–	1
Starts	15	45	33	18	23	12	146

*Results in all UIPMB and IBU World Cup races, Olympics and World Championships. Statistics as of 19 March 2016.

Shooting

Shooting	2009–10 season		2010–11 season		2011–12 season		2012–13 season		2013–14 season		2014–15 season		2015–16 season		Career
Prone position	44 / 56	78%	43 / 54	80%	36 / 46	78%	198 / 228	87%	185 / 210	88%	220 / 244	90%	229 / 241	95%	955 / 1079	89%
Standing position	48 / 57	84%	35 / 54	65%	38 / 48	79%	194 / 232	84%	177 / 212	84%	210 / 250	84%	220 / 247	89%	922 / 1100	84%
Total	92 / 113	81%	78 / 108	72%	74 / 94	79%	392 / 460	85%	362 / 422	86%	430 / 494	87%	449 / 488	92%	1877 / 2179	86%

* Results in all IBU World Cup races, Olympics and World Championships including relay events and disqualified races. Statistics as of 19 March 2016.

External links

• Official website
• Gabriela Koukalová at the International Biathlon Union
• Gabriela Soukalova at Getty Images