November 30, 2006 (Ostersund, Sweden) – For the past six years, Canada’s Zina Kocher has dreamed about putting together the perfect race, and crossing the finish line knowing she would be standing on a World Cup podium wearing her country’s colours.

That dream came true on Wednesday for the Red Deer, Alta. native after winning a bronze medal in the season-opening women’s 15-kilometre individual Biathlon World Cup event in Ostersund, Sweden. Just one week shy of her 24th birthday, Kocher’s result makes her the first Canadian biathlete to step onto the World Cup podium since Olympic gold medallist Myriam Bédard did more than a decade ago.

“I’ve been dreaming about this moment every day for years, and everything happened exactly the way it was supposed too,” said an emotional Kocher, who has been celebrating with her teammates since crossing the finish line just 23 seconds behind the frontrunner. “I had the same nerves and anxiety that I always do today, but I just went to the race relaxed, and excited to be competing again this season. I crossed that line and started waving my poles in the air. It is unbelievable.”

After a relaxing morning that included a massage and yoga session, Kocher skied the race of her life, and only had one error on the shooting range, which was good enough to solidify third spot and the first podium finish of her career. Two other first-time World Cup medallists joined Kocher on the podium. Irina Malgina, of Russia, won the season-opener with a time of 50 minutes 41.2 seconds, while Norway’s Liv Kjersti Eikeland was second 3.6 seconds back.

“The smile on my face was so huge when I left the shooting range for the final time,” laughed Kocher who quickly broke down into tears. “When I stepped onto the podium, the medal and money meant nothing to me. “It reminded me of the dedication, hard work, focus and determination to get to this point and put our sport back in the public eye. I’ve been emotional all day. I haven’t been at this as long as my teammates, but this is just so surreal right now, and our team is ecstatic.”

A gifted and well-rounded athlete recruited from cross-country running, Kocher took her first strides in the sport of biathlon in 1998 and joined the national team in 2000. A will to succeed and dedication to achieving excellence has quickly propelled her up the international rankings. Her previous best result was a fifth-place finish in a World Cup sprint event last season.

“I just hope this reinforces to Canadians, and sport leaders in our country, that Canada’s biathletes are medal contenders too, and we are improving internationally. Maybe this will help gain some additional support for our program,” said Kocher.

Canada’s biathlon program has flown under the radar over the last several years, but significant strides have been made to put athletes like Kocher back onto the international podium. A new development system implemented nearly seven years ago was designed to build a strong talent pool of biathlon athletes to compete on the world stage. The program, which was created in 1999 following a significant decline in performance by Canada’s athletes, focuses on centralizing high-performance athletes at national training centres in an effort to enhance Canada’s biathlon performance against the world’s best. There are now two training centres for the sport in the country – the Canmore Nordic Centre in Alberta, the current home of the Canadian Biathlon Team, and the Myriam Bédard Training Centre in Quebec.

Two other Canadian women that have benefited from the new training centre model also suited up alongside Kocher on Wednesday. Marie-Pierre Parent, of St-Paul de Joliette, Que., was 69th, while Calgary’s Sandra Keith was 70th. Both athletes were just over seven minutes off the leading pace.

The Biathlon World Cup continues on Thursday with the men’s 20-kilometre individual race. Canada’s two-time Olympian Robin Clegg, and 2006 Olympian, David Leoni, will be looking to feed off today’s historic result.

Biathlon Canada, the governing body for biathlon in the country, oversees the Canadian Championships, Eastern and Western Canadian Championships, and North American Cups held in Canada. The organization’s mandate is to provide national level programs for the continuous development of biathlon athletes from the grassroots to the elite level. For more information on Biathlon Canada, please visit their Web site at www.biathloncanada.ca on the Internet.

Complete Results: www.biathlonworld.com

Top-5 Women:
1.Irina Malgina, RUS, 50:41.2
2. Liv Kjersti Eikeland, NOR, +3.6
3. Zina Kocher, Red Deer, Alta., +23.3
4. Andrea Henkel, GER, +37.9
5. Ekaterina Iourieva, RUS, +50.5
Other Canadian Results:
69. Marie-Pierre Parent, St-Paul de Joliette, Que., +7:13.4
70. Sandra Keith, Calgary, 7:17.7