Star biathlete’s night of horror: “Trying to survive”

The news made waves: Gabriela Soukalová, biathlon world champion from the Czech Republic, got lost on her vacation in Livigno and was missing for one night. Fortunately, everything ended well and Soukalová was rescued the next day. Nevertheless, this event left its mark, as the 2016 overall World Cup winner said in an interview with the Czech broadcaster CNN Prime News explained. “I was just trying to survive,” she says.

Soukalová was on holiday with her partner Milos and their daughter Isabelka in Livigno, a popular holiday destination in Lombardy on the border with Switzerland. One afternoon she went on a bike ride alone, but according to her, she was misled by the GPS system on her smartphone - in the middle of the mountains of Livigno. “At some point I knew: I wouldn’t be able to return in daylight and I would have to spend the night in the mountains,” said Soukalová. In survival mode “I went into survival mode; I was most afraid of bears.” She was constantly moving so that “I didn't lose my body temperature and could survive in the cold,” she says. At night temperatures in Livigno can drop to seven degrees below zero at this time of year.

As daylight dawned, the next task awaited Soukalová. “I knew that my only way out was to climb several hundred meters so that the helicopters could see me,” explains the Czech woman. “I’m glad I trained for many years and am so fit, because who knows what the outcome would have been otherwise.” Mountain rescuers were impressed Finally, Soukalová was found safe the next day. She only suffered a few abrasions and was very exhausted. “The local rescuers were impressed with how I climbed up there. They told me I was 'Wonder Woman,'" the former biathlete has to smile. The reunion with her partner and her daughter was particularly emotional. “The whole time I was away I imagined seeing her again. That was the most beautiful moment in my life.”

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Star biathlete’s night of horror: “Trying to survive”

Former world-class biathlete Gabriela Soukalová has probably had the worst night of her life. Now the Czech woman is talking about it for the first time.

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