Before today’s Milan/Cortina Women’s Mass Start, Tereza Vobornikova’s season best was 10th 3 weeks ago at home in the Nove Mesto Short Individual. Always good on the shooting range, she was never closer to the World Cup podium than fifth place in the Oslo 15 km Individual two years ago. Suddenly this afternoon, the 2022 IBU Junior World Sprint and Pursuit World Champion found herself leading, in the Gold medal position. Although Oceane Michelon and Julia Simon’s strong last loops pushed Vobornikova to the Bronze medal, she was thrilled, “I can’t be more happy with what happened today.”

Leaving the shooting range for the last loop with the lead, “I looked back and saw a few people and thought, ‘no.’ I needed a bigger gap. I tried to fight like hell in that last lap. I am happy it was enough for the Bronze medal.”

“Incredible to lead the race”

Even though she was leading, the 25-year-old admitted, “After the shooting and you have 2.5 km in front of you with a lot of good skiers and biathletes behind you; they also want the medal. It was incredible to lead the race for a while. I am not sad that it was not Gold or Silver. This Bronze medal means everything to me. It definitely tastes like Gold.”

“Not thinking about a medal”

Coming into the last shooting after steadily moving through the field from 26th after a penalty in the first prone, she was not thinking about a medal. “I was not thinking about a medal, but about some nice results, top ten or something. I started shooting later than the other girls, but I knew I needed zero for a good result, So I decided to stay longer and be more precise with every shot. It was definitely the better choice than to be faster with some mistakes.”

“Luck was on my side”

Having the best competition of her career turned this season into something very special for Vobornikova and her team She won Czechia’s first women’s Olympic medal since Veronika Vitkova took Sprint Bronze at Pyeongchang 2018. “This season I was many times close, but always a last shot or another shot destroyed my dream. Today, luck was on my side. I finally did it and it is sweeter than anything else. It is the Olympics. Amazing.”

With another trimester to go before season’s end, maybe luck will stay with Tereza; the targets will fall and the podium will call again.

Photos: IBU/Vianney Thibaut, Olas Wizor, Nordic Focus