THE OFFICIAL MAGAZINE OF THE INTERNATIONAL BIATHLON ...

PERSONALITIES PersönlichkeitenSlovakia’s New Star:Anastasiya Vladimirovna KuzminaNew Queen of HeartsAnastasiya Vladimirovna Kuzmina –neuer Liebling der SlowakenNeue Heimat im Herzenauthor AutorIvor LEHOTAN – SVKIBU Vice President InformationIBU Vizepräsident InformationOriginal language GermanOriginalfassung DeutschOn New Year’s Eve, Juraj Sanitra, head of the SlovakianBiathlon Federation and Anastasiya Kuzmina’s shootingcoach since September 2009, was at his Slovakian homein Brezno, in bed with the flu. On days like that, the onlypeople who normally stop by are ones coming to say, “getwell soon,“ but someone else was trying frantically toget hold of him.800 km to the west, in Obertilliach, Austria, Kuzmina wasskiing with her fitness coach and beloved husband Daniel.They were on their way back to the bed & breakfast to celebrateNew Year’s with son Jelisej and Daniel’s parents.Another two kilometres away, on a downhill which she sayswas easy-peasy, Anastazia fell and landed on her left hand.One of her skis had crossed beneath the other. Her lefthand swelled up immediately, with the x-ray revealing abroken metacarpal.After consulting several people including Mr. Sanitra,Kuzmina underwent an operation in the New Year in Lienz(Austria) under Dr. Eduard Sporer, who was concurrentlytreating Lindsey Vonn, who later became the OlympicDownhill Gold medalist in Vancouver. The operation wasnot long over when Kuzmina commenced her training, stillwearing her bandages; even though her hand hurt and shecould only hold her pole with two fingers. The initial competitionsin Antholz following the injury went well; with tworesults in the top 20, hopes were high that Kuzmina mighteven win a medal in Vancouver.Gold Vancouver was the first Olympics in the careerof the Russian-born woman, who has only been startingfor Slovakia since 2008, with the Sprint being her first-everOlympic competition. You should have seen how Sanitrakissed the golden cross he wears around his neck when hisprotégée came up to the first bout of shooting. There wasa moment of fear when Kuzmina missed the first target.Then the 25-year old got going. The Slovakian Ferrari withstart number 19 skied off at whirlwind tempo, hitting thetargets bang-on in the standing stage. A fantastic, thrillingduel for the Gold ensued with Magdalena Neuner. 200metres before the finish line, Germany’s Neuner was stilltwo seconds ahead of the Slovakian. Yet Kuzmina crossedthe finish 1.5 seconds ahead of Neuner, enough to get hera Gold; a sensational performance!“I’m overjoyed – an achievement I just hadn’t expected.I can’t start to describe how I feel,” said Nastya, as she’saffectionately called, at the finish line. She explains herfirst missed target. “I wasn’t breathing properly before theshot. My pulse was too high and I pulled the trigger too fasteven though I wasn’t confident. In the penalty loop I said tomyself, ‘It’s not over yet; I’ve got enough energy left to keepfighting. If I don’t manage this time, there are still other64 biathlonworld The official Magazine of the IBU 20 I 2010