At the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, China, Denise Herrmann of Germany captured the Gold Medal in the Women’s 15 Kilometer Biathlon on Monday but the bigger news was made by a 29 year old native of Pulaski, Wisconsin. Deedra Irwin came in 7th, marking the highest finish ever in the Biathlon for women or men in US Olympic history.
The event has athletes cross country ski around a three kilometer course, making five trips with four stops along the way to shoot a rifle at targets, two standing up and two from the prone position. Each missed shot penalizes a competitor one minute of time so accuracy is critical at the shortest of the biathlon events. Irwin missed only one shot out of 20 and finished just 61.4 seconds behind the gold medal winning time.
Irwin picked up nordic skiing while a sophomore at Pulaski High School and eventually moved to Vermont to train. She not only qualified for the U.S. Nordic team but will come home with the best result ever. After the race, Irwin tweeted, “Just…wow…still crying” with a hashtag of #dreambig.
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