Gabriela Koukalová

Career

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).

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 won a silver medal, which 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 2015/2016 season Gabriela showed a good performance: at the fifth stage of the World Cup (January 14, 2016) even two unclosed targets did not prevent her rise to the podium. Gabriela showed good stability (no lower than 11 place in the season) and continued 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 helped 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 she 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 showed 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 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 won the Crystal Globe (March 20, 2016) with the final general rank of 1074 points.

The new season 2016/2017 started in Östersund, Sweden (27 November 2016), where she and her teammates took 7th place in mixed relay. The race 15 km (November 30, 2016) was not very lucky for Gabriela (17th place), but later on, December 3, 2016, she took third place in sprint 7.5 km, and the next day she showed even better results - winning the first place in pursuit, showing an excellent performance both in skiing and shooting. The next medal (first place) was taken in Mass start race December, 18th, 2016.

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.

Koukalová 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

World Championships

World Cup

(* Season in Progress)

Individual victories

Relay victories

Overall record

Shooting