Heartbeat: US Biathlon Podcast

From a nationwide laser rifle program to club development tools and a new online-based education center, U.S. Biathlon sport development efforts are resulting in strong growth in the popular, fast-rising sport. To learn more, Heartbeat caught up with U.S. Biathlon’s Director of Sport Development John Farra. His enthusiasm is contagious!A longtime Olympic athlete, coach, program leader, and high-performance director, in 2022 Farra embraced an opportunity to join the team at U.S. Biathlon as director of sport development. Two years later, aspiring biathletes and local club programs have a wealth of new tools to both help them with an introduction to sport and to perfect their craft.Farra grew up in Saratoga Springs, N.Y., where his family owned a cross country ski center. He competed in the 1992 Olympic Winter Games in Albertville, became an NCAA All American at Utah then embarked on a career in sport leadership. His career took him to Lake Placid’s National Sports Academy and the Maine Winter Sports Center, a stint as nordic director for the U.S. Ski Association, as well as high-performance roles with U.S. Paralympics and USA Triathlon. Today, Farra has found excitement and satisfaction in a role from his home base near Soldier Hollow, impacting the sport nationwide.“The common thread for me has always been the athletes,” said Farra. “It really is a fantastic experience for me to find ways to add value, to allow athletes to create the best performance they can create and to be the team behind the team.After more than a decade working in high performance, Farra has a different role now, which he embraces wholeheartedly – building the sport from the grassroots to ensure participants have a fun and positive experience.“When you know that you're adding value, you're doing the little things – I think of this job as pieces to the puzzle. I know that the pieces that I'm working with and the pieces that I'm putting into the puzzle are important to the overall foundation for the sport, and that gives me great pleasure.”One of Farra’s first initiatives two years ago was to learn from clubs and build the base. He logged many miles visiting biathlon programs in every corner of America. Today, U.S. Biathlon has grown to encompass 44 clubs nationwide. Glancing at his yellow legal pad, he counted 14 more communities where he has active conversations. What was the catalyst? Farra quickly points to U.S. Biathlon’s laser rifle program. One of the biggest supporters has been the International Biathlon Union, which provided 10 laser rifles last year with more anticipated for the future. Farra has set up an easy-to-use program for local clubs and communities to reserve laser rifles and have them shipped from U.S. Biathlon’s Utah headquarters.The result? Last season, over 2,400 athletes tried biathlon – a jump from 800 the year before!In addition to local try-it programs, U.S. Biathlon has also coordinated with existing major cross country youth festivals around the country – going to events that already attract skiers and offering them a fun add-on. Youth have responded!U.S. Biathlon has also focused on growth of its annual coaches conference. This past season, the event was held at U.S. Biathlon’s National Training Center, the Ariens Nordic Center in Wisconsin, attracting the largest number of coaches ever.Events are where the skis meet the snow. And while winter events are continuing to grow, Farra cites a focus on summer as really starting to make a difference. With plenty of events occupying winter weekend, U.S. Biathlon has started to look more to summer, creating the Summer Biathlon Championship series. This past summer, the new series tallied around 400 starts with more than 200 participating athletes from around the country.This episode of Heartbeat is full of fascinating discussions on sport development programs that are really starting to make a difference for U.S. Biathlon. Listen in with U.S. Biathlon Director of Sport Development John Farra.U.S. BIATHLON LAUNCHES ONLINE CENTERWith dozens of clubs and thousands of members scattered across America, the new digital U.S. Biathlon Center is providing a centralized source of valuable sport education information. Launched in 2023, The Center is available online and through a unique mobile application. It offers education content geared towards athletes, coaches, officials, clubs and volunteers. As an example, The Foundations of Biathlon Coaching is an excellent starting point for prospective coaches. The Center also provides easy access to information on upcoming events. It even includes a section for the burgeoning masters biathlon population. Registration is free. Check it out and register at: usbiathlon.org/the-center.

A standout cross country runner and skier from Wisconsin, Deedra Irwin picked up biathlon at age 25. Now, seven years later, her poise and confidence are readily apparent as she talks to Heartbeat about the World Cup season ahead.Now a seasoned veteran, she’s coming off a season that saw her score her first top-10 World Cup finish, moving up 20 places in the season rankings.. She also recorded her 100th World Cup start last March in Oslo. And she teamed up with rising star Campbell Wright for a pair of top-seven single mixed relay finishes.A frequent guest on Heartbeat the past few seasons, Irwin’s smile showcases the joy she is finding in the sport today. In the midst of the final dryland camp before the World Cup season begins in late November at Kontiolahti, Finland, Irwin shared stories of her passion for biathlon, the success she enjoyed last season, and reflected back to her historic seventh-place finish at the Olympics in Beijing. Most of all, she exuded the happiness she is finding in the sport today.Staff Sergeant Irwin also discussed the value she’s garnered as a soldier athlete in the Vermont National Guard and the World Class Athlete Program (WCAP). The program has provided her with strong athletic support and an opportunity to benefit from cross-pollination among athletes from other sports.Heartbeat also welcomed a new co-host, U.S. Biathlon Communications Manager Sara Donatello, with this episode. Our hour with Deedra Irwin was one of the most joyful interviews yet in five seasons of Heartbeat. Settle in to enjoy this Heartbeat episode with one of biathlon’s great stars.

Just three years ago, Susan Dunklee was a regular on the IBU World Cup Biathlon tour. Today, she’s evolving into a formative biathlon coach at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center with its Green Racing Project program. Heartbeat caught up with Dunkee at Craftsbury with the winter season quickly approaching, kicking off season five for the U.S. Biathlon Podcast.After retiring in 2021 after an illustrious career, Dunklee took on the running program at Craftsbury. Then, last season, she returned to her roots, switching to a new role heading biathlon.Dunklee is quick to cite balance as a key to her success as an athlete, and it’s something she finds in the program at Craftsbury. “I always needed balance in my life,” she said. “I think it's really easy to get wrapped up in the result sheet and have all your value reflected in what your most recent result says. To avoid that trap, I needed to have other interests and being able to feel connected to place, connected to community, and being able to contribute to the community. And the Craftsbury model of athlete support is, is all about that.”As an athlete, she admits that coaching had crossed her mind. “I’ve definitely thought about it,” she said. “It's funny because when you spend so much time in one world, sometimes you forget that other options exist. But because I was surrounded by it, I was interested in it. And I had a lot of conversations over the years with (coach) Armin (Auchentaller) what is your coaching philosophy? What advice do you have? How would you deal with this situation? How do you connect with different personality types? So, yeah, I was thinking about it.”Her Heartbeat interview covers a wide range of topics, including her philosophy on the importance of cross country skiing, the feeling of seeing one of your athletes have success, and how her program at Craftsbury could be a role model for others.

The 2023-24 season was filled with athletic advancement with personal bests across both men’s and women’s team. And with the IBU World Cup in the books, the team has headed to Bend, Ore. for on-snow training six months out from next season’s tour. Heartbeat caught up with head coach Armin Auchentaller live from Bend to analyze the team’s success, and to look forward to the season ahead.A native of the renowned biathlon venue community of Antholz, Italy, Auchentaller has a strong background with U.S. Biathlon. A former biathlete himself, Auchentaller coached in the USA from 2009-14 before leaving to head the Swiss women’s team. He returned to U.S. Biathlon in 2018 and now leads both the men’s and women’s national team.“I like to develop things and bring the athletes up to a very high level and succeed in the World Cup,” said Auchentaller. “I really like that journey of having athletes who come from nowhere, almost, and trying to guide them to the top level.”The 2023-24 season was showcased with notable results by a wide range of athletes. Auchentaller methodically walks through the highlights, both celebrating the success and having an eye on the future.The season saw Deedra Irwin claim her first top-10 World Cup. Newcomer Campbell Wright did the same, setting a new personal best six times. Campbell and Irwin teamed up for three top-10 finishes in the single mixed relay. Crossover cross country athletes Margie Freed and Grace Castonguay had strong debuts. The entire biathlon nation rose up to cheer on the men’s relay to historic finishes at the World Championships and Soldier Hollow World Cup.What’s the secret? Auchentaller pointed to closing the gap on skiing, but also a strong focus on shooting. “That’s crucial – the shooting time of a team. Four members – four members – need to be around four minutes and a couple of seconds. Four minutes is a goal for us to accomplish.”Auchentaller also shared his view on the Olympics coming to his own hometown of Antholz – one of the most legendary venues in biathlon.The interview with head coach Armin Auchentaller offers more benchmarks of a team on the rise, with a new generation of biathletes making their mark on the sport. Tune in now!This wraps up season four of Heartbeat. Thanks to U.S. Biathlon fans for listening. We’ve had some great episodes throughout the season. Check them out as you head into summer. And we’ll see you back again this fall on Heartbeat, the U.S. Biathlon podcast.

Every biathlete dreams of skiing into the range and having the crowd roar with each shot. Doing it on the snow where you grew up is all the sweeter! At the IBU World Cup in Soldier Hollow, Utah native Vincent Bonacci and his teammates had just that feeling as they skied to a best-ever fourth in the men’s relay. Heartbeat caught up with Bonacci at the end of the season to relive that magical weekend.Some might consider the impressive Soldier Hollow finish as the luck on home snow in a sport where fortunes can rise and fall quickly. But combined with the fifth in World Championships a month earlier – well this is for real now!Bonacci grew up on the trails of the 2002 Olympic venue of Soldier Hollow. Coming back home for the World Cup meant family and friends lining the track. It was the first event of the three days and he was skiing opening leg.In his Heartbeat interview, Bonacci dives into his opening relay lap in great detail from the madhouse on the first lap to his strategy for making time on the field with his knowledge of the course and how he paced himself. And laughs as he thinks back to shooting clean in standing while feeling like he was standing on a waterbed!“I thought, I would love to do well in front of my home crowd. We’ll see how this goes. I just tried to follow my process. I managed to put down all the targets with some lucky flinches there! For me, it wasn’t necessarily a super high-pressure shooting – it wasn’t terribly nerve-wracking.”Bonacci was featured a year ago in Heartbeat S3 Ep11 on his World Cup debut. Now with two seasons under his belt, you can hear his experience and maturity kicking in as he talks about the year on the tour and his decision to finish up the season on the cross country SuperTour.His season opened with a sixth at the IBU Cup in Finland. He made his first pursuit at the World Cup in Lenzerheide, then posted a standout finish at the Open European Championships – standing in the flower ceremony.Listen in to this episode of Heartbeat to learn more about one of the rising stars of U.S. Biathlon: Vincent Bonacci.“Having a couple of good relays with the team – it's a crazy feeling. It's a little bit American to watch relays and be like winning a relay is less of a personal victory. But you do it and it's like, doing well in a relay is almost like more of a victory because you get to share it with all your friends.” 

This weekend American fans will be trackside at Utah’s Olympic and Paralympic venue of Soldier Hollow as the BMW IBU World Cup Biathlon tour comes to the USA for the first time in five years. In anticipation, Heartbeat went behind the scenes at Soldier Hollow to learn more about the event – how it got back to America after five years, what it takes to put it together, and how fans can best take in the action.The event is organized by the Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation (UOLF) along with U.S. Biathlon. Heartbeat gathered in the media center of the brand-new competition building at Soldier Hollow, overlooking the range, to chat with the experts. Calum Clark, the chief operating officer of UOLF, is a veteran of more than two decades organizing winter and summer events at the Olympic and World Championship level, starting with the 2000 Summer Games at Sydney. Sara Studebaker-Hall is a well-known figure in biathlon, a two-time Olympian, now operations director for U.S. Biathlon and the chief of competition.Studebaker-Hall retired after the 2014 Olympics, finding a pathway for herself working in biathlon. She earned her international referee’s license in 2019, serving as assistant chief of competition for the World Cup, then moved up to oversee Youth and Junior World Championships three years later. She is also now an IBU technical delegate.The World Cup tour last visited America in 2019 at Soldier Hollow. Then, in 2002, the IBU’s Youth and Junior World Championships came to Utah, a showcase event for upcoming future stars. Looking ahead, Utah also has its eyes on the 2034 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games, bringing the ultimate sport stage back to the state.To get the tour to return, UOLF and U.S. Biathlon worked together with Canada to create a two-weekend finale to the season-long tour that began in Sweden last November. Over the next two weekends, final titles will be decided in events at Soldier Hollow and up north at Canmore, Alberta.Thousands are expected over the weekend, with racing Friday, Saturday, Sunday (March 8-10) at Soldier Hollow.Listen in to this episode of Heartbeat to learn more, including whether or not the dinosaur will return. And if you can’t get to Soldier Hollow, you can watch it all live at biathlonworld.com.

Imagine being 17 or 18 years old and traveling the world, living your life out of a duffel bag while pursuing the sport you love. That’s the life of Alaskan Elias Soule and Utah native Emily Caldwell. Elias and Emily are two of the top U.S. Biathlon junior athletes, rising up out of outstanding club programs and now taking their skills on the road. Heartbeat caught up with them at the IBU Junior World Championships in Estonia, just weeks after competing in the Youth Olympic Games in South Korea.Soule, now 17, grew up in Anchorage, discovering biathlon around age 10. He was able to grow his skills through both the Alaska Winter Stars and Anchorage Biathlon Club programs, skiing in the shadows of role models like Gus Schumacher, who recently won a FIS Cross Country World Cup in Minneapolis. He competed in 2023 at the IBU Youth World Championships in Kazhakstan and this February at the IBU Junior World Championships in Estonia, as well as the Youth Olympic Games in Korea.Campbell, who just turned 18, had many sport opportunities growing up in Park City, and she tried them all. She started in alpine skiing before moving to cross country with the Park City Nordic Club. Then she found biathlon and now trains with the program at Soldier Hollow. Like Soule, she made her international debut a year ago in Kazakhstan, this year competing at the Youth Olympic Games and IBU Junior World Championships.This episode of Heartbeat comes to you on the eve of the IBU Junior World Championships in Estonia as Elias and Emily recap their adventures on the road and look ahead, with each of their careers on a different pathway for the future.

For over a decade, Susan Dunklee was a prominent face of the U.S. Biathlon Team, competing in three Olympics and winning silver at the 2017 IBU Biathlon World Championships. Now in her second season of retirement from international competition, she’s finding a joyous pathway as a biathlon coach at her longtime home at Vermont’s Craftsbury Outdoor Center. Dunklee spoke to Heartbeat about her coaching evolution and the lessons she’s learning.Dunklee came into retirement after the 2022 season with a plan, becoming the running director at Craftsbury. But she longed to stay connected to the snow, recently transitioning into a new role leading biathlon. Already in her first season, she’s making an impact at Craftsbury and with the next generation of the U.S. Biathlon as a guest coach in the IBU Cup tour.Following her IBU Cup guest coaching debut in January at Martell and Ridnau, Italy, she capsulized her thoughts in an impactful Instagram post that talked about the coaching environment and what she’s learned. “As an athlete, you need to be selfish. As a coach, you must be selfless.”Whether you’re an athlete, a coach, a club leader or a fan, this episode of Heartbeat will bring you both insights and entertainment. What do you think Susan misses least from not traveling the world as an athlete? And what’s the one thing she really does miss?This is a fun podcast with one of the sport’s true superstars. Click in now to enjoy a Heartbeat conversation with Susan Dunklee.“As I admired the sunrise this morning, two hours AFTER starting my workday, I thought back on how many people put in these crazy work hours for me all the years I raced biathlon.”- Susan Dunklee, Biathlon Coach

If the recent U.S. Biathlon Trials event at Mt. Itasca Winter Sports Center is any indicator, athlete development is on the upswing. Record numbers of athletes were on hand seeking to qualify for major youth and junior events. In this episode of Heartbeat, U.S. Biathlon’s Director of Athlete Development Tim Burke, talks about sustained competitive excellence as the objective of U.S. Biathlon’s strategic plan and the progress that’s being made.Burke, a longtime athlete who won silver at the World Championships in 2013, is part of a strong athletic program at U.S. Biathlon. He works alongside Director of Sport Development John Farra and a longtime biathlete now managing high-performance, Lowell Bailey. The three all have roots growing up in Lake Placid and competing at the highest level. Now Burke is finding gratification in helping nurture the next generation to success.At Mt. Itasca in late December, 80 athletes showed up to race – a bump of 45% from previous years. Notably, too, the field included a record 31 women - a big focus for U.S. Biathlon.The trials offered athletes an opportunity to vie for spots on a wide range of international teams, most notably the Youth Olympic Games in South Korea and the IBU’s Youth and Junior World Championships in Estonia.This episode of Heartbeat takes you into the heart of athlete development, representing the next generation of biathletes who will represent Team USA in the coming years.Tim, how do you describe your role with U.S. Biathlon?My title is the director of athlete development. However, we're a very small organization, so titles are one thing, but all of us do a little bit of everything. I work very closely with Lowell in high performance and with John Farra in sport development. But my main role is kind of working in the middle of the U.S. Biathlon pipeline – really focusing on those athletes in the middle of our pipeline who are coming up, ensuring that they have the opportunities and what they need to succeed in this part of their career so they can make a smooth transition into the senior circuit.How does your role fit into U.S. Biathlon’s strategic plan?Our plan of sustained competitive excellence. So what does that mean? That means taking us from an organization that has occasionally had some success for sure, that we're all very proud of, but we want to have that more consistently. And to have that more consistently, we need to be more professional. We need more athletes in our pipeline, and ultimately, we need to be able to field teams on the World Cup, at World Championships, at the Olympics, where we can field a full team of athletes who are capable of stepping onto that podium. If we can do that, we will finally win that elusive Olympic medal. But it all starts at the bottom. It all starts with grassroots. It all starts at our clubs. It all starts down there building those numbers so that we have the athletes, enough athletes coming through our pipeline that can rise to the top.What differences do you see in athlete development today versus a few years ago?One of the biggest differences right now, as compared to when I came through the pipeline, is we're seeing a lot more of these crossover nordic athletes transitioning into biathlon. And it's not only true for our country, but it's true for others as well. You've seen other countries have a lot of success, like Sweden, like Germany, like Slovenia right now. And we want to be a part of that, and we have been a part of that. If you look at our national team right now, if you look at the World Cup that just happened this morning, many of those athletes racing for us, racing in that US uniform, are athletes that came over from cross country at a pretty late age. A lot of them came after they finished college. You know, they were successful collegiate skiers and they wanted to try something different. And we tried to provide those opportunities for them in biathlon. And that's one thing that we are continuing to really focus on and even double down on. Here at U.S. Biathlon is making sure that we have a really [00:06:00] well-developed pathway for these talented nordic skiers who want to give biathlon a chance.How important are venues like Mt. Itasca?Mt. Itasca is definitely an important venue for us. They've hosted a lot of trials events for us in the past, and we've also seen a ton of athletes from Mt. Itasca, from the Minnesota area, come on to our national teams and Olympic teams in the past. I certainly think that's something we're going to continue to see in the future.You qualified a team of three men, three women to Youth Olympic Games. What do you want to see for them in South Korea?My goal for those athletes, the biggest takeaway I want them to have from there, is I want them to leave there just incredibly motivated to continue pursuing biathlon at a high level. I'm sure they will have that experience in Korea. You know, to be there at an event that's not only drawing the best athletes your age in the world for your sport, but to be there at an event where you have athletes from all different disciplines from all over the world is incredibly, incredibly motivating for these athletes. I'm super excited for them to have this experience.Do you remember your first international trip?Absolutely! I remember my first international trip was to Torsby, Sweden. It was a Scandinavian Cup at the time. I remember being incredibly nervous. But again, getting over there, having a having an amazing time, and coming back motivated and really hungry for more.You had a record women’s field at Mt. Itasca, which has been an organizational goal, right?Expanding the number of women in sport is definitely a big goal of ours. At U.S. Biathlon, it was great to see a record number for us in Mount Itasca. We had 31 women competing, and really nice to see some fantastic up-and-coming athletes who I wasn't really familiar with before this trials event – to see them coming up through the system and doing really well. And again, back to the competitiveness of those races, that women's race for those last team spots, for all of the team spots, really, it was tight. It really came down to the last race, and it could have gone to a lot of different women. That was just really, really cool and inspiring for me and everyone at U.S. Biathlon to see.What gives you the most satisfaction now as an athlete leader?Oh, that's a great question and a really tough one. It depends on the day, os I think what my answer would be. But since this one is really fresh in mind, since we just finished up with team naming, I'll give you this. It was so fun to call those athletes who qualified for our teams and chat with them and let them know that their hard work paid off and that they would be headed out soon on an international trip. Hearing that excitement in their voices was really, really inspiring for me to hear. And those are the calls, you love to make.

There are many routes into biathlon. Grace Castonguay is part of a new generation of athletes who are finding the sport and moving quickly up the ranks. A passionate runner, Castonguay only got into cross-country skiing when an injury curtailed her running. She loved it! Just a few years later, she made her World Cup debut in December 2023, racing in Hochfilzen and Lenzerheide.When Castonguay first stepped onto skis during high school in 2019, she passionately embraced the sport. Together with her younger brother Theo, they traveled around the New Hampshire high school circuit. In her senior year, she helped the Kennett High School Eagles – Sean Doherty’s alma mater – win a state title.The vital step in her storybook tale came when she accompanied Theo to a fall biathlon camp at Utah’s Soldier Hollow in October 2020. There, she caught the attention of coach Zach Hall, who invited her to the biathlon range. Now she was really hooked! She progressed quickly. The next March (2021), she raced in her first biathlon event – U.S. Nationals at West Yellowstone. In October 2021, she was the second and third junior in races at the Soldier Hollow Schutzenski trials. While she failed to make the Junior Worlds team out of trials, she doubled down on cross-country, transferring mid-year to ski for St. Michael’s College.That December (2022), she posted strong results again during trial races at Craftsbury, qualifying for the IBU Cup and eventually the IBU Youth and Junior World Championships in Kazakhstan, where she had the top U.S. women’s results in both sprint and pursuit.Her success on the college carnival circuit and with biathlon has created a bit of a juggling act for Castonguay, which she is embracing. As the team captain for the Purple Knights, she’s committed to the college schedule in January and February. But she is also looking to take advantage of her biathlon opportunity, going to Europe for the first races of the second trimester before heading back to ski for St. Michael’s. In the back of her mind, she realizes that the NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs overlap with the IBU World Cup in Soldier Hollow in early March.Needless to say, it will be a busy season. But for a young athlete who only slid on a ski track four years ago, she’s anxious to embrace every single opportunity, be that as a member of the Ethan Allen Biathlon Club, the St. Michael’s Purple Knights, or the U.S. Biathlon Team.Here’s a sampling of what you’ll learn in this episode of Heartbeat. This is a remarkable story of a young athlete’s passion for sport and the emotions that athletic success can bring.So, Grace, that was a long road trip!This was my longest span of time in Europe – my longest time away from home forever. It was about a month and a half on the road.How did you originally get into skiing?So the punchline of this story is that I actually did not learn to ski, or step foot on skis, until four years ago. So, I am pretty much a baby in this sport. I grew up playing soccer and running cross country. When I was 14, I broke my leg playing soccer, and that kind of switched me fully into the endurance mode or lifestyle. I ran high school cross country and was really into running. I wanted to run Division 1 in college. That was my big goal. And then, because of the lasting, effects of my broken leg – I broke my tibia and fibula, which caused my growth plates to close. – running just really did not suit my body. I broke down a lot. My mom became the high school Nordic coach for our team so my brother could enter races. My indoor track season ended a little early and she was like, ‘Come on. Like, don't you want to join the team? It will look good on college resumes.’ And I figured, hey, why not? I entered my first Nordic ski race about three weeks after I learned to ski. I looked like Bambi on ice skates. What clicked for you when Zach Hall invited you to the range in Soldier Hollow?I had shot a biathlon rifle before because my brother was a biathlete, but I hadn't really caught the biathlon bug at that point. So I figured, okay, why not? I'll go to this practice. I'm here. Something to do. And I went to that practice that day, and things clicked for me. I really started to see why people love this sport. One of the big things was that Zach identified that I am left-eye dominant despite being right-handed. And when I had shot a biathlon rifle before, I was shooting righty and I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. So once we figured out that I was left-eye dominant, that made a huge difference to how I felt about the sport. And I also just really enjoyed the way he explained the process. Zach is a really phenomenal coach in a multitude of ways. He's really great at the mental aspect of sport. I remember going home that day from practice, and I said to myself, ‘I want to be really good at this.’ And I remember watching videos of Dorothy Revier and her extremely fast standing shooting time. And I was like, ‘I want to be this good someday.’ So, from that point, my goal is kind of shifted gears all in towards biathlon. There was no operating biathlon range in Jackson at that point, so my brother and I built a little range in our backyard because we live kind of in a pretty remote place, and I would just shoot.What was your biggest takeaway from Junior Worlds?The biggest thing I took away from competing at Junior Worlds was just how amazing the IBU sport family is. It was my first Junior Worlds. It just felt so wonderful to be part of such a rich and large group of really high-level junior athletes. I remember going to the opening ceremony, and it was it was just really cool to be there.You’re passionate about biathlon. What does it mean for you to dig deep?There's there's this place that has – it's a really fun place to go, and I don't get it very often. You can only capture it for a couple of races a season, where you're just like, you have this moment and I need to dig deeper than I've ever dug before. You can see it like I was never passing out at the finish line, like laying on the ground after a cross-country running race. But you push yourself so hard in Nordic skiing, and I really enjoyed that.Did you watch videos?Oh, yeah! YouTube basically taught me how to ski. YouTube was my best friend. I would just watch technique videos religiously and then try to capture that image in my brain and replicate it on skis the next day.What was your debut like on Hochfilzen?Going into the training day, I showed up and I was just, like, star-struck. There are so many cameras. There are so many superstars. And it was really hard to not get distracted on the range – like following in awe of some of the greats like Ingrid Landmark Tandrevold and Lisa Vittozzi. It was really a super cool experience. Then getting to the race day, just the noise. Oh my gosh, the noise is so incredibly loud. The sound just kind of envelops you and it's hard to hear your own thoughts. And also another really surprising thing is how many USA fans there were. I was I remember warming up on the course and just hearing USA, USA and people knew my name and that was really special.What was your emotion when finishing your first World Cup?I remember finishing the race and my only goal going into my first World Cup start was I wanted to recapture the feeling of pure joy that I had felt ...

In the long term plan for U.S. Biathlon, talent transfer is a big topic – cross country ski racers trying biathlon. How practical is it? Well, just look at the example of Margie Freed. Last season, the veteran Minnesota native and University of Vermont ski team alum, now part of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project, borrowed a biathlon rifle, qualified in trials for the European Championships and ended up with the best USA IBU Cup finish of the year. And she’ll start off the 2023-24 season in U.S. Biathlon’s World Cup lineup for the opener in Östersund.For sure, it’s not THAT easy! But Freed has shown the possibilities. This season she’ll switch back and forth, starting out with FIS Cup races in Muonio, Finland earlier in November, training with the biathlon team in Vuokatti, then off to Östersund for the IBU World Cup biathlon and after that winging her way to Alaska for the U.S. Ski & Snowboard SuperTour presented by National Nordic Foundation. Freed grew up in the cultural hotbed of cross country skiing in Minneapolis, following her older sister into the sport. The noted Loppet Nordic program provided her a bridge from high school racing to U.S. Ski & Snowboard and eventually FIS racing. A four-year stint with the Catamounts, where she was an All America selection, led her to three NCAA Championships appearances. But it was her engagement with Craftsbury that sent her career onto a higher level.Not only did she have the best U.S. Biathlon finish on the IBU Cup last year (19th in early February at Obertilliach, Austria), but she won a cross country national championship medal and her first SuperTour. Two years ago, she was sixth in the American Birkebeiner, just ahead of her mentor, Caitlin Gregg.A well-spoken professional athlete, in this episode of Heartbeat, Freed talks succinctly about the value of each step of her pathway. She showcases the opportunity that presented itself through Craftsbury Green Racing Project and drills down into the details of what she learned as a first-year biathlete.Through it all, you can feel the true enjoyment she’s taking from being an athlete competing in both cross country skiing and biathlon.Here’s a sampling of what you’ll learn in this episode of Heartbeat.Are you nervous for your first World Cup start?I would say I'm a little more excited than nervous. I am really grateful to have my teammates, a lot of them along with me, so they can kind of show me the ropes. And I'm hoping to not embarrass myself too much on the shooting range compared to some of the really good sharpshooters out there.What's the learning experience that you'll take away from competing in Östersund?I think that being thrown in with people who are way better than you at whatever you're doing is a great way to make really strong improvements. I'm hoping to just kind of take it all in there and learn from what they're doing, see what everybody else is doing, and try and mimic that to lead me to success.What motivated you to get into cross country skiing?I started cross country skiing when I was about 13 years old. My older sister had joined the high school cross country ski team. I thought she was the coolest person in the world and I wanted to be just like her. So I also joined the cross country ski team. And then I went to Eastview High School and competed there, and my coach was great at introducing me to the junior national circuit, kind of so I could train with people in the greater Minneapolis area. And then I also got connected with Loppet Nordic Racing. From there I worked with Piotr Bednarski and Caitlin Gregg there, and they were great at showing me the ropes of national skiing and going to junior nationals. Then I realized I could ski in college and so I went to the University of Vermont and then to Craftsbury from there.Once you settled into Craftsbury, it really was a remarkable experience for you, wasn't it?It was – just seeing how dedicated all the athletes are, how understanding the coaches are, how willing they are to work with everybody's unique schedules and what works for them, and especially all of the data that they do, all the testing and all the opportunities that are offered with Craftsbury. I really appreciate it all.How did your biathlon experience come about, and what have you learned so far?I'm really grateful for the support and opportunities that Craftsbury provides, one of those being the opportunity to try biathlon as a cross country skier. There is a biathlon range, there is a biathlon team. And so it was very easy for me to get exposed to that sport. I was able to borrow a rifle for the first trials that I did, and that kind of led me into where I am now. Thankfully, all the coaches kind of worked with me to figure out a plan for shooting and a lot of dry fire when I'm cross country ski training mostly, and then I can add in a bit of dry fire there, so I'm able to work through that because of the support that Craftsbury has given me. Coming from a cross country skier to biathlon, it's pretty interesting to see how the skiing changes a little bit. It's more like doing intervals rather than just a ski race where you're trying to go hard all the time and you feel bad about slowing down here and there. Whereas in biathlon, you have to be very strategic about when you're going fast and then slowing down, kind of calming your body as you go into the range. That's a really interesting change, which I think has helped me as a skier in ski races, doing that transition back from biathlon to ski racing.What counsel would you give to cross country skiers who are thinking about giving biathlon a try?It would be sweet to kind of be an ambassador for this transfer. So the Project X Group within the biathlon team is working on switching cross country skiers to biathlon. I encourage people to give it a try because it was kind of something that not a lot of people do. And the stigma around biathlon within the U.S. cross country skiing world is a little like, ‘why would you do biathlon if you can cross country ski?’ Trying to change that mentality and make a name for myself within both worlds and do well in cross country skiing as well as biathlon is one of my goals. I’m trying to show that you can do what you want to do and making that change is something that I'm looking forward to.FOLLOW MARGIEmargiefreed.com@margiefreed

Longtime U.S. Biathlon Team athlete Maddie Phaneuf grappled with her life’s direction after retiring. A full time move into coaching wasn’t really in her plan. But, today, she enters her third season as a coach – leading one of America’s most noted biathlon programs, studying with coaches from nearly 20 nations at International Biathlon Union workshops and serving as a role model for women in coaching. Most of all, she’s feeling gratified by the experience and having fun giving back to the next generation of biathletes.Phaneuf, who was featured in season one of Heartbeat with an episode entitled Finding Her Way Back, has truly found her way back. From introducing the sport to Alaskan children north of the Arctic Circle to teaching kids in Lake Placid how to gently squeeze the trigger, she is finding a meaningful pathway in the sport as a coach.After losing her Olympic opportunity in PyeongChang due to race-morning strep throat, she battled with depression, stepping away from racing. During her sabbatical she volunteered on a NANANordic/Skiku trip to Noorvik, Alaska – which opened her eyes on what she had to offer as a coach. She came back in 2020-21 for one of her best seasons ever! After that season, she decided to move on. And when a coaching opportunity came her way with New York Ski Education Foundation, she jumped at the opportunity – rising up after a season to become NYSEF’s first head biathlon coach.In this episode of Heartbeat, Phaneuf covers it all – from the success she enjoyed as an athlete to her mental health challenges after PyeongChang to her experiences working side-by-side with other coaches from around the world.Going back in time, how did you get into biathlon?I moved to the Adirondacks when I was eight. My family spent the first chunk of my life down in South Carolina – so the complete opposite of the northeast. I began cross country skiing at a young age and got into biathlon with the Polar Bear Biathlon Club when I was 15. That was my first introduction and I quickly fell in love with the sport and kept getting after it and trying to make Junior Worlds.Had you considered coaching after your athletic career?When I would think about my career as an athlete and what I wanted to do with my life – my first thought wasn't coaching. I was ‘oh, I think that's something that I don't want to do’ actually. But my first taste of coaching a little bit was when I would help the Polar Bear Ski Club. And when I was an athlete, I would go down and help with some sessions now and then during the holidays. And then my first real taste of coaching was ... I did a NANANordic program. It's basically a volunteer-based program to go up to rural communities in Alaska and bring a skiing program to them for a week or so. So that was my first real taste, and I loved it. I loved working with those kids. It was so fun and different. And so when I was retiring, or kind of in that in-between limbo of not quite sure what I wanted to do with racing or moving on stage, I was still here in Lake Placid. The former head coach, Shane McDowell, was looking for some extra support with the biathlon program. I wasn't fully training, but I also wasn't working, so I figured I would just help and kind of see if I liked it. Then that just turned into me staying with the club and being their first true head biathlon coach, and I've been loving it ever since.Mental health is very important to you. What counsel would you give young athletes and their parents?That's a hard question, because I just remember when I was in high school and maybe it's different now. I feel like when I was in high school the last thing I wanted to do was tell my parents anything about what I was going through. Maybe that was just my own personal relationship, because I have a much better relationship with them now and tell them everything. But I think as a parent, it's mostly important just to keep like an extra eye in a sense of like, you don't need to constantly always ask your child, like, ‘how are you doing?’ But it's important just to notice their patterns. And if something seems a little off, like notice it at first and maybe ask them or at least give them the opportunity to be like, ‘hey, you do know that my door is always open. I'm happy to talk to you about anything. And if I'm not the person you want to talk to, I'm totally happy to help you find someone else that you want to talk to.’ That's the main thing – just not expecting your child to want to necessarily open up to you because they might not feel totally comfortable. But if you notice something, at least give them the resources to know that it's okay to talk to somebody else.You’ve now made friends with coaches from around the world in the IBU coaches program. What are your takeaways from that experience?It’s really interesting because coming from a sport like biathlon and a lot of these, these coaches, having been involved in the sport when they were young or even recent years, we all have a similar tie. Obviously we all understand the sport. We all are in it for the same sort of reasons. We love the sport, we're passionate about it. We're obviously coaching because we want to give back to the community and want to continue growing the sport for next generations. And so it's cool because we all kind of have this similar bond and we can kind of connect over that. And the other thing that I find really interesting is learning how coaching in different cultures is so different. Like for instance, I would have never known that in Finland, for instance, this coach was saying that the athletes there are fully expected to kind of ask questions and probe why they're doing a certain thing. But for athletes who are maybe in Ukraine or Moldova, it's very much more like authoritarian type coaching, and they're not really expected to ask why they're doing a thing. They're just expected to follow what the coach informs. As a woman coach, you’re blazing new territory. Are you motivated to be a role model for women in coaching?When I first heard about biathlon, the club at the time was only kids that hunted, and they were all boys. And I remember thinking, ‘okay, so biathlon is for boys and it's for people who like hunting’ – which is so wrong and not accurate at all. As I got older and was competing more, becoming a woman and an adult, looking around the world and really, truly realizing what patriarchy is and like how instilled it is in our society that men have these positions of power where women don't necessarily. In a sport like biathlon, it's very male heavy. So it kind of opened my eyes to not only within biathlon, but just the entire world and how male dominated it is in these roles where people are making decisions like coaching or officiating. I just kind of became more interested in taking up more space and being a woman in those roles. And I really, truly encourage more women to take up more space and push the boundary into coaching or officiating.Are you still playing music?Well, I recently picked up a piano off the side of the road this past summer. So I am dabbling back in the piano, which I've played since I was eight, so that's been very nostalgic and fun to get back into.If you want to hear more about the piano, listen in to this episode of Heartbeat where Maddie Phaneuf talks about ...

After several years of preparation, the IBU 2023-24 season will begin with a full ban on fluorocarbons, which have been used for decades. What will change for teams? How will IBU manage testing? U.S. Biathlon Team Manager Federico ‘Fede’ Fontana, one of the sport’s most renowned experts on ski preparation, talked to Heartbeat about the impacts and how U.S. Biathlon has been preparing.Fontana grew up in Frassinoro, Italy, a legendary hotbed of modern ski preparation. In the interview he speaks to the history of fluorocarbons in ski wax, dating back to the 1980s, and the dangers they ultimately presented to both the environment and to technicians working in wax cabins.Over the past years leading up to the ban, IBU has also worked in concert with the International Ski & Snowboard Federation (FIS), which is implementing its ban this season, as well, across all of its sports. At the first FIS Alpine Ski World Cup in October, the sport also had its first disqualification due to elevated levels of fluorocarbons in a ski.A popular coach, manager and ski technician, Fontana has a great sense of history and perspective on the future that he shares on Heartbeat. He will also regale listeners with a rather incredible personal goal he achieved this summer.Listen in to this important episode of Heartbeat, with one of the sport’s legendary figures.What are fluorocarbons? Why are they bad?Fluorinated waxes contain chemicals that are part of a group called per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), among them are perfluorooctanoic acid and perfluorooctane sulfonate – more commonly referred to as PFOA and PFOS. These man made water repellent compounds were introduced in the 1950s and found their way into household products (think nonstick cookware). The chemicals found their way into ski wax in the 1980s with their water repellent properties equating to increased speed of skis.Why are they harmful? Most notably, they simply do not break down in the environment … ever. Studies have shown that they impact the ozone layer. In humans, research has linked them to respiratory ailments, cancer and other illnesses. In typical fine powder applications on skis, they are easily inhaled.IBU Implements Full Fluoro BanThe International Biathlon Union (IBU) announced that it will implement a full ban of ski preparation products containing fluoro at all its event series from the 2023/2024 season onwards. The IBU committed to banning fluoro products used in ski preparation in 2020 based on the apparent health risks and environmental concerns connected to fluorine waxes. Working with Bruker, a leading manufacturer of high-performance scientific instruments, while maintaining a close collaboration with the International Ski Federation (FIS) through a joint working group, the IBU has developed an effective testing method using the Alpha II device. The device provides reliable testing to ensure fluor-free biathlon competitions. IBU will test to ensure that skis are fluor-free at each IBU event, guaranteeing the integrity of competitions and a level playing field. More …FIS to fully implement fluor wax ban at start of 2023-24 seasonThe International Ski and Snowboard Federation (FIS) announced that the fluoro wax ban will be fully implemented at the start of the upcoming 2023/2024 winter season. FIS has remained committed to banning fluor products used in ski preparation given the health risks and environmental concerns connected to fluorine waxes. Working with Bruker, a leading manufacturer of high-performance scientific instruments, while maintaining a close collaboration with the International Biathlon Union (IBU) through a joint working group, an effective and accurate testing method was developed. More …

In 2017, Lowell Bailey’s World Championships gold helped ignite the sport across America. Today, as high performance director for U.S. Biathlon, Bailey remains at the forefront guiding the upstart organization in its march to sustained competitive excellence. Bailey talked to Heartbeat during the team’s vital pre-season camp at Soldier Hollow in October.U.S. Biathlon is now well into execution on its strategic plan, which is taking the long view out to 2030 as to how it can develop sustained competitive excellence. While much of that plan focuses on high performance, other elements look at growing the sport through more biathlon club programs across the country, or talent transfer – helping cross country skiers discover biathlon.On the talent transfer, think about how many cross country skiers across America were motivated to see Jessie Diggins try biathlon at the Soldier Hollow camp?In this episode of Heartbeat, Bailey recaps last season – which had some impactful high points – and looks to the season ahead, which starts in late November. But he also dives deep into the strategic plan and how U.S. Biathlon is moving down the pathway to sustained competitive excellence.To start, Lowell, how important is this Soldier Hollow camp?We've been doing this camp for decades now. It's such a great time of year to be in Utah for our last dryland training camp. The importance of it is that it’s the final training block before we get into the fine tuning section of the season, which leads up to the on snow camp in Scandinavia.  It's the culmination of a ton of hard work by the athletes starting in May and also mixed in as some team qualifications.And this year you’re also celebrating Utah as the new headquarters of U.S. Biathlon?It's hugely important for the organization. We're expanding at a pretty rapid pace these days. There are a lot of new clubs coming online. Our organizational priorities or objectives, are really about building our clubs and building our outreach. We've really had a pretty good presence in the northeast for, for a long time, some good venues there. In the West, there are also great venues, great clubs. And so this just adds to all the groundwork that they've laid over the years and puts, you know, USBA puts its presence out here on the West Coast.That club growth is a key part of your plan. What are you seeing?Lowell Bailey: [00:02:52] Yeah, I mean, that is our hope that the club participation is increasing. We're seeing that now. We're seeing new clubs [00:03:00] come online. We're seeing growth in participation at existing clubs. And you know, I think a lot of that credit goes to the, you know, the club organizers, volunteers and also with U.S. Biathlon. You know we've put resources and personnel dedicated to that purpose of helping clubs as they continue to grow.In our last episode ofHeartbeat, we talked to Campbell Wright. What impact can he have on the team as a whole?Campbell trained with the national team throughout last year and was, by all intents and purposes, a national team member throughout last season and now IS a national team member. We have some young athletes who continue to post some impressive results and they did last season. But what's really exciting is there's a whole group of that generation of athletes that's training together daily, pushing each other daily, and that type of sort of critical mass is so important in raising the bar of the whole team.Talent transfer is also a key part of your strategic plan. Can you share an example?In biathlon, since it's a sport that involves cross country skiing and rifle marksmanship, what you see across really the whole international scene is cross country – skiers at an elite level will make that jump. What we saw last year was Margie Freed from the Craftsbury Green Racing project. She chose to kind of stick her neck out and try biathlon. She didn't have a whole lot of experience up to that point, really jumping in with both feet. And she jumped into our trials in December and qualified for our IBU Cup team and then went on to post a 19th place, which was our American top finish on the IBU Cup last year. More importantly, she posted a second fastest course time and did that several times where she had top five course times. And in biathlon, you know right now the international field is really, really competitive. Races are won by half a second and ski speed is just so important. It's my opinion that that shooting can be taken up in a much shorter time than it is to learn how to cross country ski at an elite level. So the ski speed aspect of the sport is just so important.Tom Kelly: [00:24:29] When you [00:24:30] look at the whole blend of things that you have in this plan, it's really quite detailed. Are the athletes understanding this? Do they? Do they feel that they have a plan that they can sink their teeth into and they can stick with now over the next 6 or 7 years?As you continue to move down the roadway on the strategic plan, We're building that backing and momentum. And this plan didn't just get created in a vacuum. It had a lot of stakeholders that contributed, including athlete representatives and also our board of directors. So it's a group effort. Obviously at the end of the day, it's the athlete that's on the course that's out there racing. But as we all know, there's so much that goes into just getting competitive athletes to the start line at an Olympic Games.Finally, Lowell, what’s the toughest thing you've done athletically yourself in the last year?Unfortunately, it's not that impressive. You'll have to ask our team general manager, Federico Fontana because his is more impressive than mine. Watch for that in upcoming episode 4!There’s plenty more from Lowell Bailey on the future direction of U.S. Biathlon on Heartbeat episode three. <<LINK>> 

Walk into a room with Campbell Wright and you’re struck first by his Kiwi accent, his lighthearted approach to life and his confidence. The junior world champion was born in New Zealand to American parents, one of four boys who grew up in Rotorua where mom put them in sports to burn off energy. A later move to the South Island put Wright onto snow. Today, he’s forging a career as a biathlete, hopscotching the globe with his new U.S. Biathlon teammates.It’s official now, Wright’s American passport has been recognized by both the IBU and IOC. And he’ll be flying the stars and stripes when the BMW IBU World Cup begins in November.In this fun episode of Heartbeat, Wright talks about growing up in New Zealand, skiing with the so-called Refugee Team, finding biathlon and making his pathway as a training partner with the U.S. Biathlon Team and now a member himself. Underlying his career today were a number of key individuals or mentors, and relationships he forged that taught him about sport and life.Here’s a little sampling …Tell us about New Zealand!Well, for anyone who doesn't know, New Zealand is a pretty, pretty sweet place. Like very nice outdoors and mountains and so on and so forth. So it's pretty hard not to be into the outdoors. So I have a family of three brothers, so there's four boys. And of course mum wanted us to be tired at the end of the day. So she would send us out, go tire ourselves out. And whether that was biking or running or playing rugby or all of the other things that I don't know the great outdoors brings. But so always was sporty coming from a sporty family.What's a typical day at the Soldier Hollow camp for you?Wake up. Might have a coffee, go train and come back. And we have a lovely, lovely caterer who cooks us an amazing lunch and then generally a nap and then afternoon training and then a little chill out, then dinner, also by the lovely caterer, andrinse and repeat for three weeks.How did you get into skiing in New Zealand?The skiing part was just quite by coincidence when we moved down to the South Island. So obviously when you move to a new town, you introduce yourself to the neighbors and they had kids who were our age, and the person who started up the cross-country skiing field in New Zealand started up the Snow Farm. She was actually the one who took me skiing for the first time. She (Mary Lee) took me up to Snow Farm for the first time, and she also took me to my first international race in Australia. Just me and her went over to the Joey Hoppet.Did you start off right away in biathlon?No, no, I was, I was pretty, pretty cross country specific. I actually didn't really like biathlon all that much, even when I was like 14, it was just like, I'm a skier, I like skiing, I'm good at skiing. Biathlon didn't come until a bit later, probably till I turned like 15 is probably when I started shooting and actually taking it a bit more seriously.What’s on your playlist?What tunes are on my playlist? Yeah, well, my playlist is pretty sad boy oriented at the moment. I don't really know why, but what tunes are on my playlist? Bit of Joji and 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton. That's not really that sad, but I don't know –  Max played it in the van and I liked it, so I had my playlist.

Jack Gierhart, a highly respected Olympic sport leader, heads into his second season as president and CEO of U.S. Biathlon eager to take his first year experience and forge a pathway to the future for the fast-growing sport. In the debut episode of season four of Heartbeat, Gierhart talks about his past roles in Olympic sport and the open welcome he felt last year as he moved into biathlon.Gierhart took over as interim CEO after longtime leader Max Cobb headed to Salzburg to take over as secretary general of the International Biathlon Union. His first experience at last year’s October camp in Soldier Hollow gave him a very positive introduction to the sport with engaging conversations with athletes, coaches and parents.Heartbeat dives deep into U.S. Biathlon’s 2030 strategic plan with Gierhart, as well as detailing the recent announcement to expand the organization’s footprint into Utah as Salt Lake City eyes a return of the Winter Games in either 2030 or 2034.If you enjoy Heartbeat, make it a favorite on your podcast list and leave a short review.Now let’s dive into the opening episode of season four of Heartbeat with U.S. Biathlon President and CEO Jack Gierhart.

Maxime Germain: A Breakthrough SeasonIf you’re a skier or passionate outdoor enthusiast, two of the coolest places in the world are Chamonix and Alaska. U.S. Biathlon Team athlete Maxime Germain has roots in both. Germain is coming off a breakthrough season that saw him ski nearly an entire IBU World Cup season plus come home with a medal from the IBU Junior World Championships.Germain talked to Heartbeat from the Lake Placid Olympic and Paralympic Training Center, taking a break from life at an early summer team camp. “It’s sleep, eat, train, repeat,” he said laughing. “Actually, it’s a bit more than that.” One of the highlights now at the OTC is the eating phase: “Yah, they’ve really stepped up their game – awesome food.”Born in Juneau, Ak., he moved with his family to Chamonix, France when he was young, spending time in Germany and France while absorbing the culture of mountain life in the Alps. When he was 15, he moved back to Alaska, basing in Anchorage and continuing his biathlon journey.In the winter sports crazy village of Chamonix he did it all from skiing to speed skating to ski jumping. At 12, his coaches introduced him to biathlon. French Olympic biathlon champion Martin Foucade became an early hero. “He was definitely one of the reasons why I joined biathlon.”Moving back to Alaska, he was able to continue his pursuit of biathlon with a program in Anchorage. “Not gonna lie … shooting in the dark in winter … it was quite hard to get motivated.”But he did stay motivated and continued his advancement. In 2020, he was third in the sprint at the Youth World Championships in Switzerland. In 2022, he was 17th in the sprint at the Junior World Championships in Soldier Hollow. He also made his World Cup debut in Ruhpolding, Germany. This past season, he started the IBU World Cup tour at Kontiolahti, Finland and stayed on the tour much of the season. But his big memory came at the Junior World Championships in Shchuchinsk, Kazakhstan, winning bronze in the 10k sprint with just one miss on the range.On Heartbeat, Maxime talks about life in Chamonix, life in Alaska, his pride of competing for the U.S. Biathlon Team and his outlook for the future.How to Follow MaximeInstagram

Injuries are a part of sport. It’s something every athlete faces at some point. This past winter, Olympic biathlete Paul Schommer cut his season short with an early March knee surgery. In this episode of Heartbeat, he shares insights into his injury, his rehab plan to get back in top physical shape, the ways he’s managing the mental aspects and how archery has helped him stay active.Just prior to the season, Schommer felt a twinge in his left  knee during a workout. He tried to put it out of his mind, but it was real. But he was able to ski so he headed to the IBU World Cup tour and eventually the World Championships. Having had knee surgery in 2019, he knew what was in store. And it helped that wife Jillian was a budding orthopedic surgeon herself, finishing up her residency in Sioux Falls, S.D.A Wisconsin native, Schommer grew up loving the outdoors. He’s no stranger to guns and bows, learning skills in a family that hunted. As a part of his rehab he found himself drifting back to his childhood love of archery, even entering a spring competition in nearby Yankton, S.D.Schommer dives deep into the physical and mental aspects of rehab in this episode of Heartbeat. A veteran athlete, he has great experience to share and a positive outlook for the future. While his early March surgery cut off the last period of the World Cup, his game plan seems sound for a return to full time training later this summer and being able to hit the snow running next November.Paul Schommer on Archery“I missed archery. I missed the act of shooting. There's something meditative about it because it's quiet. It's probably similar martial arts or yoga. So I bought this bow and I just started falling in love with it all over again like I did as a kid.”How to Follow PaulFans can follow Paul Schommer’s story on social media. Be sure to check out his YouTube channel: Average Olympian.Instagram: @paultschommerYouTube: @paultschommer (Average Olympian)

The family-owned Wisconsin company Ariens is known worldwide as the King of Snow for its reliable, hard-working snow blowers. After an introduction to biathlon at Ruhpolding, President Dan Ariens was hooked! The U.S. Biathlon sponsor has gone all in on the sport, not only supporting the team but in building the new Ariens Nordic Center in its home of Brillion, Wis. Heartbeat is joined by Managing Director Monica Ariens and Nordic Center General Manager Sean Becker for an insightful look at the new facility in eastern Wisconsin.The Ariens Nordic Center is located adjacent to Round Lake Farms on 200 acres at the outskirts of Brillion. It includes a year-round trail network for recreation, training and competition for cross country skiing, biathlon, roller skiing, running, hiking, and more. The facility, which opened for the 2022-23 season, is open to the public and includes lighting, snowmaking, a paved roller-ski loop for off-season training, a pond for snowmaking and a 20-point biathlon range.The project was several years in the making under former U.S. Biathlon President Max Cobb, with trail design by John Morton. “I’ve designed 12 of these kinds of venues around the world,” said Morton, Owner, Morton Trails. “But I think this facility is going to have the most significant positive impact on the community and the region of any of the projects I’ve done.”The new Ariens Nordic Center has really caught the attention of U.S. Biathlon stars Deedra Irwin and Paul Schommer, both of whom grew up just a short distance away and have visited the facility for groundbreakings and grand openings.“It takes a lot of people to help build a dream like this,” said Irwin. “I hope to show people you can come from a small farm community in the middle of nowhere and you can make it onto the world stage and live your dreams as a professional athlete or whatever those dreams may be. This venue is going to be really amazing for the nordic teams from one hour, two hours, even three hours away. You’ll see the U.S. Biathlon Team here a lot too. I’m excited to show our team where we came from. We’ll show them our beautiful cows.”“To see the Ariens family producing and creating this type of venue that will not only introduce kids to the sports of biathlon and cross-country skiing but who will also have the opportunity to train here at a very high level, it’s exciting," said Schommer. "I’m hopeful we’re going to see more Olympians coming out of this part of the country.”Click for more information on the Ariens Nordic Center.

One of the most successful winter Paralympic athletes with nine cross country and five biathlon Olympic medals, Team USA's Oksana Masters has documented her remarkable story in a gripping new book from Simon & Schuster: The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph. In her Heartbeat interview she dives deep into her emotional storyAn injury has kept Masters sidelined this season, so she'll be cheering her teammates from afar at the Para Nordic World Cup Finals at the 2002 Paralympic venue of Soldier Hollow March 1-8.Born in Ukraine amidst the aftermath of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, life had a rugged start for Masters. A range of birth defects caused her family to put her in an orphanage, where endured horrifying abuse. At age seven, she was adopted by an American woman, eventually undergoing surgery after surgery. Today, she is a well respected athlete and advocate for Para sport.Her story is a real testament to perseverance. She found rowing to help her build strength following the surgeries, winning a medal in the 2012 London Paralympics. Then she found nordic sport and began her medals collection at Sochi in 2014. Today, her sights are squarely set on the 2026 Paralympics in Milan/Cortina.The Hard Parts: A Memoir of Courage and Triumph is available now wherever books are sold.