Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) and Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/U.S. Biathlon) skied to a ninth place finish in the single mixed relay at the sixth World Cup of the season in Antholz, Italy. Between the pair, both Irwin and Wright held top-10 ski times throughout the race, finishing only four seconds back from the eighth place Estonia and 30 seconds back from a top-five finish. “It felt good to ski with everyone...
Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/U.S. Biathlon) raced to a World Cup personal best 12th place in the men’s 10km sprint in Ruhpolding, Germany, his second race of the weekend. With only one miss in standing, Wright crossed the finish line just 0.9 seconds behind Philipp Horn of Germany. “I’m feeling really good on the skis,” said Wright. “Great contrast from Oestersund when I was 100th ski time, so good progression. Just loving it.” Wright was +50.1 behind the...
After a delayed start to the race weekend in Oberhof, Germany with rain and strong winds creating challenging conditions for the athletes, the U.S. Biathlon Team was able to pull off clean shooting, pursuit qualifications and strong relay performances. The focus now turns to this weekend’s races in Ruhpolding, Germany, which will kick off with the women’s relay on Wednesday, followed by the men’s relay, sprint and pursuit races, spread over five days. In the...
The first trimester of the IBU World Cup concluded this past weekend in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. Team USA’s Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program) stepped up and had the best weekend of her career, landing eighth in the sprint on Thursday. The last time U.S. Biathlon had an athlete in the top ten was in 2022 when Irwin skied to seventh place in the individual event at the Olympics in Beijing. Irwin, who shot...
A stellar performance from Vincent Bonacci (Salt Lake City, UT/Team Crosscut) landed him a World Cup personal best 49th place in the men’s 10km sprint in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. With just one miss in standing, Bonacci qualified for his first World Cup pursuit. “I am happy to have had a World Cup where I didn’t really feel stressed to race, and was just happy to have some sun and mountain air to go for a fun...
This article is part of a series based on an interview with Lowell Bailey. Mr. Bailey represented the United States in biathlon in four Olympic games, 11 World Championships, and 15 World Cup seasons. He is currently Director of High Performance for U.S. Biathlon. His World Championship gold medal race is one of the most thrilling races ever. If you haven’t seen it, the race is available on YouTube and is a great watch. His...
This article is Part One of an interview with Lowell Bailey who represented the United States in biathlon in four Olympic games, 11 World Championships, and 15 World Cup seasons. He is currently Director of High Performance for U.S. Biathlon. His World Championship gold medal race remains one of the most thrilling races ever. The race is available on YouTube, ( https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yguD6SEAAmw) and is a great watch. His enthusiasm for biathlon continues, and is contagious....
This season’s cross-country and biathlon World Cup races promise to be some of the most exciting in recent years; however, this season also presents dramatic changes in how American fans will be able to—or unable to—watch races. The new season will be quite different from what we’ve come to expect in seasons past. NBC’s coverage is gone; it will be replaced by a combination of paid streaming services and accessing European coverage. Cross-Country There will...
Clear, crisp autumn mornings in the Heber Valley are a delight to the senses: scrub oak and sumac color the high slopes, willow and cottonwood fill the dry washes, and the scents of cedar and sage waft up from nearby flats. On just such a morning—dry, windless, and cool—this section of “Utah’s Alps” rang with the sounds of cheering along the trails and the pops of rifles on the range. Schutzenski Festival 2022 had arrived...
U.S. Biathlon has taken yet another step to fortify its athletic position for the future, naming Olympian John Farra to the newly-created position, director of sport development. Farra, an NCAA cross country skiing All-American with the University of Utah and a 1992 Olympian, has built a highly-successful career in sport development across multiple Olympic and Paralympic sports organizations. Farra’s new role will focus on talent identification among junior and collegiate cross country skiers and providing a...
For the first time ever, an American will preside over international governance of a nordic sport. On Tuesday, the International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced that longtime U.S. Biathlon President and CEO Max Cobb has been named the IBU Secretary General. Cobb will finish up his second term on the IBU Executive Board and leave his post as at U.S. biathlon at the end of September, then begin his new role overseeing international competition, governance, and...
Overview The U.S. Biathlon Team invites current and/or recently graduated collegiate cross country skiers to apply to its Talent ID program. The program is designed for current cross-country skiing talents who are interested in continuing their athletic ski racing careers professionally after college, but need professional support and guidance in committing to their next step. This fully-supported, pre-professional summer training team based in Lake Placid, NY will prepare athletes to transition from their collegiate careers...
BEIJING, China (Feb. 5, 2022) – Things don’t always go according to plan, but occasionally someone can exceed even her wildest expectations. Such was the case for Deedra Irwin of Pulaski, Wisconsin, who on Monday turned in the best Olympic performance ever by an American biathlete, finishing seventh in the women’s 15-kilometer individual event at the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Centre northwest of Beijing. “I was trying to focus on just working on everything I’ve worked on this week,”...
This press release, written by Bill Kellick, was originally posted at TeamUSA.org. Oct. 27, 2021, 8:47 a.m. (ET) (NEW GLOUCESTER, MAINE) – US Biathlon has announced the roster for the Pre-World Cup On-Snow Camp in Obertilliah, Austria, as well as the roster for the first two IBU Cup competitions of the 2021-22 season. The Pre-World Cup Camp will begin November 11 with athletes joining National Team Coaches Armin Auchentaller and Vegard Bitnes for on-snow training ahead of the first BMW IBU...
This post will be updated with men’s comments as available. The 2021 U.S. Biathlon National Rollerski Championships were held this past weekend in Jericho, VT, hosted by the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club. As the annual event was held in a virtual format in August 2020 due to COVID-19 safety restrictions, the weekend marks a welcome return to public national level biathlon competition. Participants from clubs throughout the U.S. made their way to Northern Vermont to...
There will be many ways in which we remember the past 12 months— March to March — as a relative void when it comes to normalcy. You don’t need to hear that from us. For the most part, this was a year with a lack of national championships at the senior or junior level. U.S. Ski & Snowboard made the decision early on to cancel Senior Nationals and Junior Nationals. The same was true for...
Press Release NEW GLOUCESTER, Maine (April 14, 2021) – The US Biathlon board of directors today named the following athletes to the National Team and Junior National Team for the 2021-22 season. National A1 Team Clare Egan (Cape Elizabeth, Maine) Susan Dunklee (Craftsbury, Vt.) Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H.) National A2 Team Jake Brown (St. Paul, Minn.) Leif Nordgren (Hinesburg, Vt.) National A3 Team Joanne Reid (Grand Junction, Colo.) Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, Wis.)...
Press Release NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic (March 14, 2021) – Susan Dunklee (Barton, Vt.) and Sean Doherty (Center Conway, N.H.) combined to give the United States its first medal in the single mixed relay since 2017 as the BMW IBU World Cup wrapped up two weeks of competition in Nove Mesto on Sunday. Dunklee was part of the previous podium appearance as well when she teamed up with Lowell Bailey for a silver medal four years ago. Dunklee led the...
Press Release NOVE MESTO, Czech Republic (March 13, 2021) – Susan Dunklee (Barton, Vt.) has become the second U.S. female biathlete to meet the standards set for early qualification to the 2022 U.S. Olympic team at the end of the season. Early qualification is available for up to two athletes who meet the standards of the U.S. Biathlon selection procedures, in this case, two top-12 finishes at an IBU World Cup race during the 2020-21 season. With her second eighth-place...
Press Release POKLJUKA, Slovenia (Feb. 12, 2021) – Earlier this season, Jake Brown (Saint Paul, Minn.) raced to a career-best 30th-place finish in the men’s 10-kilometer sprint at the BMW IBU World Cup in Kontiolahti, Finland. On Friday, in biathlon’s biggest event on the 2020-21 calendar, the 28-year-old Brown smashed his personal best with clean shooting and a 12th-place finish at the IBU Biathlon World Championships in Pokljuka. His time was just 44.8 seconds back of winner Martin...