Zina Kocher (born December 5, 1982, in Red Deer, Alberta) is a Canadian cross-country skier and former biathlete. She competed for Team Canada in biathlon at the 2006, 2010, 2014 Winter Olympics and in 12 editions of the Biathlon World Championships. [1] [2]
Kocher started out competing as a cross-country skier, and was introduced to the sport of biathlon at the 1998 Alberta Winter Games. After graduating from high school in 2000, she moved to Canmore to train full-time. She subsequently was selected to compete for Canada at the 2001 Junior World Championships, before embarking on her first full-time Biathlon World Cup campaign in the 2003-04 season, during which she took five top 30 finishes. [2] [3]
In the opening race of the 2006-07 season, a 15 km individual competition in Östersund, Sweden, Kocher finished third, becoming the first Canadian biathlete to make the podium in a top-level international event since Myriam Bédard ten years earlier. [3] After a two-year period where she struggled with illness, Kocher took a fourth place in a pursuit at the third meeting of the 2009–10 season in Pokljuka, Slovenia, shooting 20 out of 20 targets in an event for the first time, having already taken a tenth place in the sprint at the same meeting. [4] At the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, she was part of the Canadian team that finished eighth in the women's relay, the best ever Canadian finish in that event. [2]
Kocher retired from biathlon competition in March 2016, and by January 2017 she had enrolled as a student of massage therapy at Mount Royal University. She subsequently competed in the 2017 national cross-country ski championships in Canmore: having trained on a part-time basis, she won the 5 km competition and finished second in the 30 km event, in a field containing members of the Canadian national cross-country ski team. She subsequently decided to switch to part-time studies and return to competition as a cross-country skier with the aim of being selected for the 2018 Winter Olympics, partly in memory of Richard Boruta, her former biathlon coach, who had been killed in a climbing accident in August 2017. [1] [5] Kocher won the 51 km freestyle race at the Gatineau Loppet in February 2018. [6]
She was part of a group of five athletes (along with Canadian biathletes Megan Tandy, Sandra Keith, Rosanna Crawford, and Megan Imrie), who posed for the Bold Beautiful Biathlon calendar. [7] Although Zina Kocher was one of the few fully funded athletes in the national biathlon program, she took the initiative to find opportunities for extra funding. Kocher felt the calendar would build a new image for young Canadian girls to look up to; the image of a healthy, athletic body. The nude photos were taken by Rachel Boekel and Adrian Marcoux in Canmore, Alberta. The concept was that each athlete will be featured on two pages of the calendar, and there will be four group photos. The calendar was called Bold Beautiful Biathlon, and sold for $25. The biathletes were inspired by a calendar that was done featuring Olympic cross-country skiers, Sara Renner and Beckie Scott in 2001. Renner and Scott, along with three other teammates, tastefully took their clothes off for a calendar to raise funds. [7]
Kocher married Alex Lawson in the summer of 2017. She is a trained doula. [5]
The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not timed per se, but depending on the competition, missed shots result in extra distance or time being added to the contestant's total.
Magdalena "Magda" Forsberg is a Swedish former cross-country skier and biathlete. She was the dominating female biathlete from 1997 to 2002, when she retired, winning the Biathlon World Cup for six years straight. She is also a six-times world champion, a two-times Olympic bronze medalist, and holds the record for the most World Cup victories in women's biathlon.
Sara Renner is a Canadian cross-country skier who competed from 1994 to 2010. With Beckie Scott, she won the silver medal in the team sprint event at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin and earned her best individual finish of eight in the 10 km classical event in those same games. She was born in Golden, British Columbia.
Chandra Crawford is a Canadian cross-country skier who has competed since 2001 at the age of 16. Prior to this, she was a biathlete for five years. She was born in Canmore, Alberta, Canada.
Anna Carin Helena Cecilia Zidek is a Swedish former biathlete who won a silver medal in the 7.5 km sprint and a gold medal in the 12.5 km mass start event at the 2006 Winter Olympics. Originally a cross-country skier, Olofsson competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics, but in the three events she took part in she made the top 30 only once, and the following season she switched to biathlon.
Darya Uladzimirauna Domracheva is a retired Belarusian biathlete and coach who competed in the Biathlon World Cup from 2006 to 2018. She won a gold medal in the 4×6 km relay and a silver medal in the mass start competition at the 2018 Winter Olympics, three gold medals in the pursuit, individual, and mass start competitions at the 2014 Winter Olympics, and a bronze medal in the individual competition at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She was a Biathlon World Cup overall winner for the 2014–15 season.
Miriam Neureuther is a former German biathlete and cross-country skier. She has won an Olympic silver medal in cross-country skiing and two biathlon world championship titles, all in team events. Noted for her fast skiing performances, she won two junior world championship titles in biathlon in 2008 and 2009. Gössner was called up for the Nordic World Ski Championships 2009, where she was part of Germany's cross-country team claiming silver in the 4 × 5 kilometre relay.
Megan Imrie is a Canadian former biathlete who is also active in rodeo and long-distance running. She competed for Canada at the 2010 Winter Olympics and the 2014 Winter Olympics.
Sarah Jane Spidy Murphy is a New Zealand biathlete. She represented New Zealand at the 2010 Winter Olympics. She was the first Kiwi Olympic biathlete.
Rosanna Crawford is a Canadian biathlete.
Megan Tandy is a Canadian biathlete.
Michael Dixon, is a Scottish cross-country skier and biathlete. He has represented Great Britain at six Olympic Games in cross-country skiing and biathlon. He is only the seventh athlete from any country to have competed at six Winter Games and is one of fewer than fifty athletes to have competed in at least six Olympic Games.
Mari Eder is a Finnish biathlete and cross-country skier.
Denise Herrmann-Wick is a German biathlete and former cross-country skier. She won gold at 2022 Winter Olympics – Women's individual and won gold at Biathlon World Championships 2019 – Women's pursuit, as well as several other medals. Previously, she has competed in FIS Cross-Country World Cup since 2009. Herrmann has won several medals at the World Cup events. In April 2016 she announced that she would switch to competing in biathlon for the following season, although in an interview in November of that year she did not rule out competing in cross-country skiing in the future.
Matthias Ahrens is a former German biathlete, cross-country skier and current coach.
Anamarija Lampič is a Slovenian biathlete and former cross-country skier. She made her Olympic debut at the 2018 Winter Olympics. She is a triple World Championship medalist.
Oksana Shyshkova is a Ukrainian visually impaired cross-country skier and biathlete. She has competed at the Winter Paralympics thrice in 2010, 2014 and 2018. Oksana Shyshkova claimed 6 medals at the 2017 IPC World Championships, which is her notable achievement in the sport of Nordic skiing. She competed at the 2022 Winter Paralympics, winning a gold medal, in Women's 6 kilometres.
Kendall Gretsch is an American triathlete, biathlete and cross-country skier. She was born with spina bifida. She has competed in both Summer Paralympics and Winter Paralympics and has a unique distinction of winning gold medals in both Summer Paralympics and Winter Paralympics.
Brittany Hudak is a Canadian biathlete and cross-country skier.
Justin Wadsworth is an American former cross-country skier. He competed at the 1994 Winter Olympics, the 1998 Winter Olympics and the 2002 Winter Olympics. He is also known for an act of sportsmanship at the 2018 Winter Olympics.