Campbell Wright Soars to 4th Place, Flower Ceremony with World Cup Personal Best
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by Sara Donatello
Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/Waiorau Nordic Skiing) rewrites his World Cup personal best in Kontiolahti, FIN with a fourth-place finish in the men’s 10km sprint and a ticket to his second World Cup flower ceremony. Shooting a perfect 10 for 10, Wright crossed the line just 29.1 seconds behind the leading Frenchman Emilien Jacquelin and four seconds back from a podium finish.
“It feels great mate, it feels so good,” Wright said in an interview with IBU. “I thought I was going to be quite slow this week. I was on antibiotics two weeks ago, with a fever, so I was thinking maybe in Hochfilzen I could be fast, but I was also fast today, so really happy. Really, really happy.”
“Campbell, wow – 4th place, battling with the absolute best in the world,” said U.S. Biathlon Head Coach Armin Auchentaller. “Great shooting, coming back from illness, and showing incredible patience as he worked his way back, slowly but surely. We’re all really happy with his performance.”
Jacquelin was joined on the podium by Sweden’s Sebastian Samuelsson in second and Philipp Nawrath of Germany in third. Wright’s fourth-place performance bested 2023-24 World Cup Overall winner Johannes Thinges Boe by 21.9 seconds and the sixth-place finisher, Vetle Sjaastad Christiansen by 25.6 seconds.
With the new draw group system for sprint competitions, Wright started later in the pool but was still amongst the top biathletes. He headed into the race just 30 seconds behind Norway’s Sturla Holm Laegreid, which pushed Wright to his limits on the course, where he was able to hold the 12th overall ski time.
As this result was no surprise given the successes Wright saw last season – sixth place at Soldier Hollow, eighth in Oslo, 11th at World Championships, to name a few – he finds himself currently in 10th place on the World Cup overall points list and a contender for the U23 blue bib.
“On top of that, the whole team has been fantastic, with great skis and solid results all week,” Auchentaller added. “What’s even more exciting is that all the other athletes are showing a positive trend, continuing to improve and build momentum. It’s been a great team effort all around!”
Reiterating Auchentaller’s comments, the rest of the men’s team contributed to “a great team effort”, with all four U.S. men placing in the top 60. Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program) mirrored Wright on the range with a flawless 10 for 10 to finish in 26th. Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon), despite missing three shots, finished in 47th, with Jake Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project) crossing the line in 59th.
Tomorrow, the U.S. women will toe the line for the 7.5km sprint which will begin at 11:10 EST/18:10 EET. For information on how to watch, visit usbiathlon.org/how-to-watch. For spectator resources, visit usbiathlon.org/spectator-resources.
