With flawless shooting, Lora Hristova won a bronze medal for Bulgaria in the individual 15-kilometer race at the Winter Olympic Games in Milan/Cortina 2026.
The 23-year-old Bulgarian finished third in her second appearance at the largest sporting forum.
She finished in 42:20.1 minutes, after hitting all 20 targets in her four shooting rounds, to record her best career ranking at a major championship for women.
Hristova finished 13th in the discipline at the last World Championships in Lenzerheide 2025, but this time she skied better and reached the third position.
Lora Hristova won the second medal for Bulgaria at the Milan-Cortina Olympics after the bronze of Tervel Zamfirov in alpine snowboarding on Sunday, which is the country's eighth overall at the Winter Games.
She brought the first Olympic medal for biathlon since the bronze of Irina Nikulchina from the pursuit in Salt Lake City 2002.
Hristova will be awarded by the only Bulgarian Winter Olympic champion Ekaterina Dafovska, who triumphed with the title in the same discipline in Nagano 1988.
World champion Julia Simon (France) triumphed in the competition with a time of 41:14.6 minutes. She made one mistake in her second shooting round, but with strong skiing she earned first place. Thus, the 29-year-old Simon won her second gold medal at the Games after the title with the mixed relay of France on February 8.
Another Frenchwoman, Lou Jeanmonnot, finished second, 53.1 seconds behind, despite making two misses. For Jeanmonnot, the medal is also her second at the Games after the gold with the mixed relay.
Milena Todorova finished 57th with five shooting errors, Maria Zdravkova is 75th with 6 penalty minutes, and Valentina Dimitrova, in her debut, made only two shooting errors, but remained in 72nd place.