Wright Kicks off Trimester Three with Back-to-Back Top 10 Finishes

Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/Waiorau Nordic Skiing) picked up right where he left off at World Championships, racing to a solid ninth place in the men’s 10km sprint, then followed up with yet another ninth place finish in the men's 12.5km pursuit in Nove Mesto na Morave, Czechia to kick off the third and final trimester of the 2024-25 World Cup season.

In the men's sprint, Wright knocked down all 10 targets with immense speed, holding the fifth overall shooting time. His shooting performance, combined with the 20th overall ski speed saw him cross the line just +38.7 behind the sprint victor Emilien Jaquelin of France, who also shot clean. Jaquelin was joined on the podium by Italy’s Tommaso Giacomel and Johannes Thinges Boe of Norway. 

The pursuit saw Wright miss one shot in each of his four shooting stages, but a ninth overall ski speed held him in the top 10 throughout the race, ultimately crossing the line where he began in ninth place. Wright crossed the line +1:41.9 behind the victorious Sebastian Samuelsson of Sweden who moved up from bib 11 to take the win with clean shooting. Samuelsson stood atop the podium with Giacomel taking his second silver of the weekend and Boe with his second bronze.

"Four misses on the range, one-one-one-one, so I was a little bit maybe not in the zone with lots of misses, but skiing good, the energy is awesome," said Wright after the pursuit. "It's so hot here. 'Am I in Miami or am I in Czech? Who knows!'"

Collecting 64 World Cup points in the sprint and pursuit, Wright currently sits 16th on the World Cup overall standings with 347 points and will head to World Cup 8 in Pokljuka, SVN wearing the U23 blue bib, noting his position as the top U23 male athlete in the world. If he continues on the track of top results, Wright may very well become the first U.S. athlete in history to take home the U23 crystal globe, which will be awarded in Oslo, NOR in three weeks. 

Wright's teammates Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon), Jake Brown (St. Paul, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project), and Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Birkie/Ariens Nordic Center) did not start the sprint or pursuit.