First Biathlon Gold for Slovakia

OSRBLIE – At least one gold medal will not leave Slovakia. Indeed, after a sensational race, Slovak biathlete Paulina Fialkova took first place in the 7.5km race in front of a home crowd. “I felt tremendously emotional when passing the finish line. Winning the gold medal in front of my fans, and many people I know, it’s an amazing feeling. I would also like to thank my family and the audience for their support.”

Women’s 7,5K sprint podium (fr. l. to r. Evgeniia Pavlova, Paulina Fialkova and Jitka Landova)

Yet this Universiade did not start in the best ways for the Slovak biathlete. Paulina, member of the Slovak national team and Biathlon World Cup participant, expected to do better than third place in the 15km individual. “I aim to win the gold medal. So I was slightly disappointed with my performance. Especially since I train regularly here in Osrblie. I know every meter of the track that has no more secrets for me and today I was able to take advantage of this.”

Paulina, who also participated in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, won the race with a time of 20:20.8 and a shooting success rate of 100% in front of the Russian Evgeniia Pavlova and the Czech Jitka Landova. “I find that the level of this Universiade is quite high, similar to the European Biathlon Cup, although many girls usually active on the World Cup circuit are present here at the Universiade. It really is a great victory”, the Slovakian athlete ended.

Gold medallist Paulina Fialkova

As for the rest of the competition, Paulina hopes to participate in all remaining competitions with a view to win a few more medals.

David Vandenplas, Media Assistant