site.btaStrong Day for Bulgaria with Two Top-10 Finishes, One 11th Place; Milena Todorova Just Misses Out on Medal

February 14 was another strong day for the Bulgarian athletes at the Olympic Games, as they recorded two top-10 finishes and one 11th place.

Following the bronze medals won by Tervel Zamfirov in Alpine Snowboarding on February 8 and by biathlete Lora Hristova in the 15km individual race on February 11, Milena Todorova came really close to a podium finish on Saturday. She placed fourth in the 7.5km biathlon sprint, narrowly missing out on a medal.

Lora Hristova also delivered a solid performance, finishing 11th. Both athletes are in strong starting positions to challenge for a podium place in Sunday's 12.5km pursuit.

With her result, Todorova equalled the best-ever Olympic performance by a Bulgarian woman in the discipline, previously achieved by Nadezhda Aleksieva at the Albertville 1992 Winter Olympics. After the race, however, Todorova could not hold back her tears, clearly disappointed at having missed such an opportunity for a medal.

Hristova, by contrast, expressed satisfaction with her performance and was optimistic about the prospects for even better results for both athletes in Sunday's pursuit.

Vladimir Zografski achieved a historic result for Bulgarian ski jumping by finishing 10th on the large hill. Despite the strong showing, the 32-year-old was left with mixed feelings after the competition in Predazzo, having been sixth after the opening jumps and missing the chance for an even higher placing. "The result is solid, but the feeling is not very pleasant when you've missed a chance. Still, 10th place is not bad at all in one of the most demanding winter sports, with huge competition. Right now, I feel a mix of emotions," he said.

Debutant Kalin Zlatkov made the first Bulgarian start in alpine skiing at the Games. He finished 37th in the giant slalom on the Stelvio course in Bormio, with the race held in difficult conditions due to heavy snowfall and reduced visibility.

The 25-year-old admitted to making mistakes and expressed hope for a better result in the slalom on February 16, where Bulgaria will also be represented by the country's leading alpine skier Albert Popov, who finished ninth in the discipline at the Beijing 2022 Winter Olympics.