“It’s a massacre,” she nodded approvingly. “I couldn’t even hear my breath,” she recounted, having to raise her voice to be heard over the fans who were applauding the finishing competitors even from the bottom of the starting list.
“I like that they are not just rooting for us, but for everyone. I try to take it in a positive way, I don’t get upset that it’s loud or that eyes are on us. I’m looking forward to the weekend all the more,” she looked forward to Saturday’s fighter and Sunday’s mixed relays. “You won’t experience this anywhere else,” nodded assistant coach Jiří Holubec.
Photo: Vlastimil Vacek, Law
Czech biathlete Markéta Davidová during the women’s sprint as part of the Biathlon World CupPhoto: Vlastimil Vacek, The law
In the pursuit race, Davidová will have to work hard, she loses 26 seconds to the elite ten, the deficit increased after the penalty rounds, when she involuntarily indulged in one after the lying and standing events. “One plus one is not bad, but if we want to be top, there must be zeros,” Holubec knew.
Even though it was more windy than in the men’s sprint, there were fewer mistakes overall. The path to the elite fifteen was a maximum of one minute.
“Two is a lot, but not so much that I think I couldn’t do it. I don’t collapse from it, but it could have been more cheerful,” said Davidová, who flashed third place at the same place in 2020. “On the track I felt the same as at the end in Oberhof, I had good skis,” praised the eighth woman in the overall ranking of the World Cup, who only got comfortable running at the end of the world championship.
And she watched her pace on Friday, so as not to let the rioting audience cheer her up too much. “I was a little worried if I burned the first round, as I felt them in my back. On the other hand, when else to try it than now,” the 26-year-old biathlete from Janova nad Nisou described her setup.
The races will be held in Nové Město na Moravě on Saturday from 1:50 p.m. (men) and 3:45 p.m. (women, both on ČT Sport), between the races, members of the Czech women’s relay team from the Olympics in Sochi will receive their bronze medals.
