After the Individual race did not go as I had hoped, I put a lot of pressure on myself to perform well in the Sprint. I was skiing fast so I knew that anything was possible. I was a bit shaken up by randomly missing three in prone in the Individual, but I felt confident in my standing shooting, because I hit 14/15 of my targets in the first two races. I went into the Sprint with high hopes. Zeroing for the Sprint race. Photo: Manzoni/NordicFocus. But the Sprint ended up being an absolute nightmare– the kind that makes beg to wake up. Much to my dismay the nightmare was real and there was no wa ..read more

We arrived on Sunday, January 30th in Zhangjiakou Olympic village after about 30 hours of travel from Italy. Everything went as smoothly as expected for a large group with firearms traveling to China during a pandemic for a mega-event in a closed-loop. When we boarded our Air China charter flight (after paying 3400 Euros in surprise baggage fees), we got our first glimpse of the Olympics volunteers who wear haz-mat gear: full-body disposable textile suits paired with rubber gloves, textile shoe covers, N95 mask, safety goggles and face shield. I wonder if we, in our street clothes and “just” a ..read more

Between April 1, 2018 and April 1, 2019 I was at my home base in Lake Placid, New York for about 130 nights. I spent the other 235 nights on the road, in the beds pictured below in chronological order. My grandmother’s house, Falmouth, Maine Mary-Kate’s bedroom, Cape Elizabeth, Maine Washington, D.C. Green Bay, Wisconsin Jericho, Vermont Lancaster, Pennsylvania Burlington, Vermont Craftsbury Outdoor Center, Craftsbury, Vermont “Ithaca”, Kamp Kohut, Oxford, Maine My bedroom, Cape Elizabeth, Maine Jackson, New Hampshire Montreal, Quebec, Canada Catskills, New York North Star Resort, California T ..read more

Every year the same thing happens: it’s summer and then suddenly I’m racing tomorrow. In the annual cycle of biathlon, fall is the season of acceleration. We literally increase our speed in training as the days flip by, each one shorter than the last. Now, on the eve of the World Cup opener, there’s a palpable break in that momentum, a pause for one last deep breath. Here’s a reflection on the final months of preparation. In September my dad and I both rode 50 miles for the Kelly Brush Foundation. I did so in a new biking jersey from our team sponsor, Maloja. He did so with a new hip! We had a ..read more

As it’s been almost a year since I last updated you, I think it’s high time for a slideshow of the year in review! I post regular updates with photos on my Instagram account so make sure you follow me there for more frequent updates. 2021 World Championships in Slovenia were not my best…but it was as beautiful as always in the Triglav National Forest. (Photo: NordicFocus) Afterwards I enjoyed a magnificent week in Antholz with some members of our men’s team! At the next World Cup, Sean and Susan teamed up for a relay podium, and to celebrate we all jumped in the pond. Our women’s relay and m ..read more

The US Biathlon Team in Vuokatti, Finland wearing our new Maloja uniforms for 2020-2021 My teammates and I traveled to Finland in early November. We trained for two weeks in Vuokatti on a man-made snow loop of about 4km, with a 15-point shooting range. It was really busy with biathletes and cross-country skiers from Finland and abroad who came there in search of early season snow. This was our first time traveling as a group and establishing our team “bubble.” We are tested about every four days for COVID. Even though we are traveling, our risk of exposure or transmission is very low because w ..read more

At the end of winter 2019-2020, I took a long break from biathlon, and an even longer break from this blog! If you follow me on Instagram or Facebook then you probably have a sense of what I’ve been up to, but here’s a more in-depth look at my last 8 months. Jet lag sunrise, March 12, from my balcony in Lake Placid After arriving back in Lake Placid in March, I came down with a mild case of what turned out to be Influenza B, not COVID! But since I had been tested for COVID, I was quarantined for 14 days and my boyfriend was evicted from our apartment by the New York State Department of Health ..read more

I like to share some of my favorite moments and candid captures from the season. Unfortunately last year I ended on a rough note, getting sick and flying home early (oh yeah, and there was this pandemic??) and I wasn’t in the mood to re-hash what had been a tough season. But now that I have some perspective I picked out some highlights. Enjoy! Armin shoveling us out from under 6ft/2mtrs of snow in Obertilliach, Austria Annual equipment check before World Cup 1 in Sweden Franzi laughing about her plain rice. Even Germans struggle to eat before the race in Sweden My high school coach, Dave, an ..read more

As I prepare to embark on a competition season unlike any other, here’s a look back at my May 2019-May 2020 travels, bed by bed. My bedroom, Lake Placid, New YorkHanover, New HampshireMontreal-MunichAuchentaller family home, Antholz, ItalyMunich, GermanyLos Angeles, CaliforniaPalm Springs, CaliforniaJoshua Tree National Park, CaliforniaSan Diego, CaliforniaBend, OregonMy childhood bedroom, Cape Elizabeth, MaineMontreal-LyonLyon, FranceCorrençon-en-vercors, FranceAntholz, ItalyBologna, ItalyForte dei Marmi, Italy, with my friend Mike!Crafford family home, Washington, D.C.Lewish family home, Roc ..read more

With the last camp of the training season behind me, I’m taking one final look backwards before turning my focus to winter. As always, I can’t wait for the racing to begin! Our June national team training camp was in Lake Placid, as seen here from Whiteface Mountain. We use a rollerski treadmill for technique work, because you can easily tell which techniques are more efficient or faster when you keep the treadmill at a constant speed. In addition to many hours of long-distance skiing and running, we do jumps (plyometrics) to train our muscles to be fast and powerful. This set of stairs at Lak ..read more