BEIJING, PEOPLE’S REPUBLIC OF CHINA (WTAQ) — A Brown County native has broken records at the Beijing Olympics.
Deedra Irwin, who grew up in Pulaski and graduated from Pulaski High School, finished seventh place in the Women’s 15km Individual Biathlon, the best finish ever for an American in individual competition.
7th!!!!!! @deedrablu has an unbelievable race and takes the BEST EVER finish for Team USA in the Olympics!!! #beijing2022 pic.twitter.com/w8hwmg4Rqo
— US Biathlon (@USBiathlon) February 7, 2022
“I was not expecting such a historic result in these Olympics at all,” Irwin told WTAQ in a Wednesday interview from the Olympic Village in Beijing. “I’m still very new to the sport. Still very much a rookie, so I’m on cloud nine. I’m just enjoying the experience.”
The 29-year-old Irwin has only been doing biathlon, a sport that combines cross country skiing with rifle shooting, for a little over four years.
“I’ve only been skiing for around 14 years,” Irwin says. “That’s not nearly as long as most of my competitors. Along with biathlon, I think I’m still a ‘baby’.”
Irwin’s Olympic journey started in Brown County. She learned to ski and took up Nordic skiing locally.
“It wasn’t until high school when a few friends introduced me to Nordic skiing and started skiing out at the reforestation camp by the NEW Zoo,” Irwin explained.
Nordic skiing, too, is an Olympic event, but Irwin said she felt making the US team in Nordic skiing was out of her reach. She considered retirement when one of her now-teammates suggesting trying biathlon.
Biathletes compete on courses in which several shooting stations are set up in between challenging skiing stages. Athletes must be skilled in both skiing and shooting the .22 caliber rifles they carry on their backs, as both factor in to their final race time, and missing a shot comes with penalties. It has its origins in the exercises of Scandinavian military units during the 18th century.
It comes as no surprise, then, that Irwin is a soldier, too. She’s a professional soldier-athlete and Sergeant with the Vermont National Guard, competing worldwide in biathlon events.
The 2010 Pulaski High School graduate’s life may have taken her far from her hometown, but she’s thankful to Northeast Wisconsin.
“I just want to thank Pulaski and Green Bay. It’s been just amazing, the amount of support I’ve gotten,” she said.
Irwin had some advice for local aspiring winter athletes.
“There are so many opportunities,” Irwin explained. “I know the reforestation camp rents gear now, the Ashwaubenon Nordic Ski team, which I was on, has a very reasonable club fee for young athletes.”
As for her long term athletic goals, she says she’s already accomplished her wildest dreams.
“I just wanted to make the Olympics. Anything after that? I was just happy with whatever happens,” Irwin laughed.
Irwin does have future plans, though. She says biathlon is a “lifelong” sport and that she regularly competes with people years her senior.
“I’m pretty excited to push through these next four years after this and go to the Italian Milano-Cortina Olympics. It’s one of my favorite courses. We do it a lot on the World Cup,” Irwin said Wednesday. “I’m hoping my body holds up over the next four years and that we can bring a really strong team again in 2026.”
Irwin has several events to go at the Olympics in Beijing. On Friday, she will compete in the Biathlon sprint, and if she winds up in the top 60, she will compete in a four-stage race called the Pursuit. She’ll also be competing in the women’s relay and may compete in the mass start event, in which only the top 30 biathletes compete.
No American has ever medaled in the sport.
