Utah’s Soldier Hollow becomes training ground for future Olympic biathletes

MIDWAY — Utah is the relatively new home of the U.S. biathlon team, a sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle marksmanship. Its headquarters moved to Midway in 2023. But it has held a special place in the hearts of two Olympic hopefuls long before that.

It was while competing as kids at Utah’s Soldier Hollow in Midway that Vincent Bonacci and Luci Anderson each said they felt, for the first time, that their skills, drive and athleticism allowed them to compete at an elite level. That is, at least at the skiing part.

“The first moment where I was, like, I had a good race was actually a race here at Soldier Hollow,” Bonacci said.

“I did grow up racing at Soldier Hollow,” Anderson said. “And then, while at the University of New Hampshire, I came to U.S. Nationals here and ended up qualifying. That was when I thought, ‘I might want to continue this after college.’”

Bonacci grew up in Salt Lake City playing in Utah’s mountains. Anderson, on the other hand, grew up in Minneapolis, where they are more known for their lakes than their hills.

“I think (the elevation) is like 600 feet,” she laughed.

Both athletes were introduced to skiing as kids, but only Bonacci had an introduction to guns. He said he would go shooting in Utah’s deserts. When he learned that the biathlon headquarters was moving to Utah, he was instantly intrigued.

“When I was 17, they started the biathlon team here at Soldier Hollow, so I jumped on that because I’d always enjoyed (the shooting) aspect,” he said.

Anderson, on the other hand, was recruited out of college to try out for the biathlon team based on her skiing, despite having never shot a rifle before.

“I wasn’t raised in, like, a hunting family,” she said. “We don’t really own any guns. I think we have, like, my grandpa’s military rifle or something.”

Knowing all that, perhaps their juxtaposing answers to the question, ‘What is harder, shooting or skiing?’ tracks. Bonacci emphatically said it’s the skiing. Anderson finds the shooting to be the more challenging aspect of the sport.

There’s certainly plenty they do agree on – like the pain of their chosen sport!

“It hurts a lot,” Anderson said.

“It’s brutal,” Bonacci said.

They also agreed that weeks spent training in Utah are crucial to their success. Skiing into a shooting station while out of breath, “especially here at altitude in Utah,” Anderson said, helps hone focus and shots when it matters.

The Team USA Biathlon roster has not yet been announced for Milan Cortina. It’s expected to be named in the second or third week of January.

You can learn more about the qualification process on NBC’s Olympic website.

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