ANTERSELVA, ITALY, Feb 11 (Reuters) - Bulgaria's Lora Hristova pulled off the biggest shock so far at the biathlon competitions of the Milano Cortina Games on Wednesday, winning a brilliant bronze medal that virtually no one had expected - except perhaps for the Bulgarian team's legendary German coach, Wolfgang Pichler.
Coaching at his 10th Winter Olympics, the 71-year-old oracle of biathlon orchestrated another stunning medal win as his unheralded 22-year-old protegehit all 20 of her shots and skied brilliantly to secure third place behind the French pair of Julia Simon and Lou Jeanmonnot, who finished first and second respectively.
"This is one of the best medals (in my career)," he told Reuters. "You know, we are no-name team... we don't have big support, we have only working really hard, working in a good team."
Pichler was the architect of much of Sweden's Olympic and World Championships success over the years, but he said Hristova's medal is right up there with the best of his achievements.
"I know my system works - this, I know, and on Sunday (in the mixed relay), I thought, okay, they skied so well, so the material works here, and the performance is good, then we can do something here," he said.
"They smiled always if I talked about medals, but my plan was to win a medal here. And of course, you need always luck, but I saw on Sunday, I thought we are in good shape, and it still works".
Pichler's system of hard physical and mental preparation for months on end before a major championshiphas delivered plenty of medals over the years, and despite his advancing years, he is still very much in demand in biathlon circles.
As more well-known names fell away and the pressure mounted, Hristova kept her cool, calmly hitting her targets before maximising her efforts on the three-kilometre track, and it proved enough for a bronze medal, the country's first Olympic biathlon medal since 2002.
"It was insane," Hristova said of the moment when the speaker announced her name as the bronze medal-winner in the stadium. "I couldn't believe it that I'm staying next to these legends of biathlon and that I made my best result in the Olympics."
Asked by reporters whether she would go to sleep with her medal around her neck, Hristova laughed.
"No, it would probably be very uncomfortable - but I might sleep with it under my pillow," she said.
(Reporting by Philip O'Connor, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
