[00:00:00] Tom Kelly: Well, today we are taking you live to the epicenter of biathlon in Antholz, Italy, and with us, the U.S. Biathlon Team head coach Armin Auchentaller. Armin, first of all, congratulations on a great season.

[00:00:15] Armin Auchentaller: Thank you, thank you, Tom. It was overall a pretty good season.

[00:00:21] Tom Kelly: And what are you doing? I know you get a little bit of a break. You're about to head to Bend, Oregon, for an on-snow camp. But in the little bit of time that you had at home, what have you been doing.

[00:00:32] Armin Auchentaller: Was it a long season? And, after the season, usually is before the season. So we had many, many meetings between us coaches and the federation and lots of planning and some meetings with the athletes. And there was also time for a little, little vacation, after, like, after the season, right after the season. So was a not a quiet time. But I would say a normal busy normal.

[00:01:10] Tom Kelly: The life of a coach. Where do you like to take your little vacation?

[00:01:15] Armin Auchentaller: Usually I do like to travel … Italy as I have a little camper van, so I enjoy living in a camper van, with my wife. And then, we just travel around wherever we want to stop. We stop and go for hikes or some cycling.

[00:01:37] Tom Kelly: What a beautiful way to spend time. Let's look ahead to the Bend camp. And as this episode of Heartbeat posts, you will be on snow with the team up in Bend, Oregon at Mount Bachelor. Tell us a little bit about what you have planned for the camp this spring up in Oregon.

[00:01:53] Armin Auchentaller: Well, the Bend camp is a traditional camp. We do mostly every year now. And it's a good kickoff for the season. Just because we don't focus too much on shooting, but it's mostly trying to get some hours in and do some ski technique on snow. On-snow training especially, we do some ski technique there and um, the rest is filled up with some biking, some running, and it's very beautiful to do that there too. And a couple strength workouts just to, to start the season and, uh, get the body used to normal training again.

[00:02:38] Tom Kelly: What have you been hearing about the snow conditions up at Mount Bachelor?

[00:02:41] Armin Auchentaller: Oh, they seem to be very, very good. I get the newsletters from them all season, all season long. And so I look at them at times, but it seems to be pretty good. And also talking with Matt Whitcomb, head coach from the U.S. Ski Team. They will be there too. Also, he said to me today that it's pretty good there right now.

[00:03:10] Tom Kelly: Awesome. Tell me a little bit more about that collaboration with the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team and the U.S. Biathlon Team for this camp.

[00:03:17] Armin Auchentaller: We're trying to have like two to three sessions together with them. Mostly easy sessions like an afternoon run or a little ski together or a classic ski. Mostly the easy sessions just to get the the people, the community, cross country community and the biathlon community together and get to know each other and, you know, change. So the athletes can exchange some experiences and some experience, some thoughts about training and daily life and get to know new people, maybe, which they never met. But just see on the results list. And that's what we're trying to do. We try to respect each other's plans to not be invasive, but actually trying to get together a little bit. It's very healthy.

[00:04:12] Tom Kelly: Yeah, I think it's a great idea. I also understand that your daughter, Hannah, who is an Italian biathlete, will be joining you at the camp as well, maybe as a proud father. You could tell us a little bit about Hannah and the season that she had last year.

[00:04:29] Armin Auchentaller: Yeah, she's going to join us. So is Adam Reynolds from Canada. Those will be our guest athletes. And they will join us for most of the camp. And Hannah had a, I would say, a great December. And then she got sick two times. So it was a little bit rough. The second part of her season, but nonetheless, I think it was a step up again in her development. And I think she had a positive year, I would say. All in all.

[00:05:10] Tom Kelly: Good. So before we talk about the season that just concluded, I want to go back a whole year and talk about your preparation period last year and give our listeners a sense of how important this preparation period that's coming up now, how important that is to success during the season itself.

[00:05:31] Armin Auchentaller: I think we have a good system going, uh, for the physiological part and for the shooting part. What it takes is continuity. Continuity in the planning and in executing the plan. I think we will not change that much. We will individualize a couple things for some athletes based on their feedback. That's that which is needed, of course. Sport not always develops. It never stays the same. But on the other side, you have, uh, the to solve the, the challenge of how to give continuity. Without that, it doesn't get too monotone. You know that the fun fact is still given, but also the quality of training is remaining high. And that's that's a challenge. Very often, those plans seem very similar to the year before, uh, which we were aware of. But I think, uh, it's needed in order to continue to develop because the athlete's body continues to develop and. Just, you know, by adding a couple hours, you might find the right stimulus for, for the next step to do. So it's it's a small line between what you want to add, what you want to keep and what you want to avoid. So it's a very fine line, and we don't want to risk too much as we have already a setup, which is like. I would say quite challenging for some. So we are at the limit. And that's that's how sport is. You're living always at the limit, and you're trying to cross those, those limits with a healthy way with the healthy approach. So that's very, very important to not overdo it, but not overdo it either.

[00:07:52] Tom Kelly: So, Armin, you talk about that fine line and I know it's always difficult. One of the biggest challenges of a coach is figuring out that fine line of how far you can push and to really get the most out of a training period. Right.

[00:08:06] Armin Auchentaller: Yeah. That's that's it. And, I think that's the biggest challenge. And to approach that the best in the best possible way, I think it needs a lot of communication and get a good read, of what's needed. And, of course, that's, that's the most difficult one. I think it's easy to write a, a plan and then execute it, but without any feedback and without, um, you know, talking about it. And things can sometimes go off road and that's, I think, an added puzzle piece, uh, which we try to get going. Try to get better at …. And I think that's going to be the key for an upcoming season.

[00:09:04] Tom Kelly: I want to talk about a couple of your younger athletes, uh, Maxime Germaine and Lucy Anderson. They both had good seasons last year, and I want to talk about the shooting. What work did you do with them and with the other athletes? Last preparation period a year ago that really helped to prepare them better for the season.

[00:09:24] Armin Auchentaller: Well, Lucy is a little different. Her approach was basically learning shooting, learn how to shoot, learn how to go in position, learn how to do all the things, all you know, to put all the elements together regarding shooting. And that was basically her task, and in the end, for her development, we will work actually on positioning setup and then try to get her in a good routine that things are basically running, um, very automatic and without thinking too much, that would be the ultimate goal. And in order to reach, um, a good shooting, um, skills, we need to work on the basics a lot, like divide all the little things, like learning how to trigger, learning how to aim, learning how to breathe, learning how to bolt, learning how to go into position quick, and all of those little things and little things and then put those things together. Those need to be high quality. It will take a lot of patience. It will take a lot of personal workload in their off times when they are without the team and, um, on their own. But Lucy is a very, very motivated athlete, and I think I have the feeling that she wants to succeed and be successful in this sport.

[00:11:10] Armin Auchentaller: And I'm very positive that she will put in all the hard work needed. So that's a little bit different. Her, her, um, way to the top is different than for a Maxime. Maxime has already established a shooting routine over the years, but it's also still developing. And for him, it's in the very small details. How to get better. Especially. We are looking for him. We're looking into, uh, getting, uh, his, uh, prone percentage up a little bit and make sure that, um, he can start a race with a clean shooting and not within one or a two, which happened a little bit too often this season. We are all well aware about it, although he improved a lot. But that's the big next step we want to take. And, um, we will work also with him on basics and try to figure out where the problem is or where we can tweak those little things, those little details, and then try to get a good routine, try to get this, this one going until the season starts.

[00:12:36] Tom Kelly: I want to talk a little bit about Matt Emmons, his role with the team, uh, a great marksman himself. What is Matt's role with the team now, and what has he brought to the whole equation for the US Biathlon team?

[00:12:49] Armin Auchentaller: Matt … Matt Emmons is a very, very well-known athlete and, now very well-known shooting coach. His role is basically to to add a lot of shooting expertise and, develop athletes like Lucy Anderson and Maggie Freed or athletes who come in, who come in through the development pipeline, but also, uh, other athletes on the team. So we try to use his expertise in a way where athletes get access to experience what he had himself, uh, shooting experience and put it or open it up on a different perspective, under a different light, and give the athletes a lot of theoretical feedback through that and a lot of, um, sharing, experience sharing and a lot of expertise from his shooting, um, career. And combined with the biathlon, what we all bring in with biathlon experience, what we bring in, we have a good mix, I would say, and the communication between us coaches is so good that we always share what we're trying to do with the athletes and so that we all pull in the right direction. So his role is very important. He's not at all the camps or better, he will be at a couple camps, but only for a short period. And that short period will be used for certain outlets to work with him, especially when we look at rapid development. Shooting development for athletes who need to catch up with the shooting part.

[00:14:53] Tom Kelly: Ahmed, you have an amazing program going on right now with Montana State University. To physical testing. I know that program was in place during the preparation period a year ago, and you're planning on it again this year. Talk a little bit about that program and what it brings to the team preparation.

[00:15:12] Armin Auchentaller: MSU, Montana State University, is super important for us. We will have again, um, physiological testing in June. And in September we have a treadmill test, basically where we, where we can, um, see the VO2 max, uh, of an athlete. We can see the efficiency of skiing for the athletes. We can see, many different variables. Like with the pressure zones in the foot, we have insoles in the shoes, and we can use those datas to optimize skiing ski efficiency and give them the right training zones. And MSU is super helpful to us. There's there's a bunch of guys there who are so helpful and so proactive, especially with the stuff with the coaching staff, which we appreciate a lot. And since we started that cooperation, I think, um, we did a little step up again. Yeah. When I add here one thing last season, uh, which I almost forgot, they were also in Antholz, um, at the World Cup and uh, we did some studies there, and the results will come out soon. We had athletes Outlets running with GPS devices on their on their back during the competitions, and can compare now through the through that data. The Swedish Swedish data and German data. And we have a little study going on to see where athletes gain some time, where athletes lose some time to just to get to know the the course really, really well. And where to push, where not to push, where to pace better, where to attack and all those little things. And that's going to be super, super interesting for us, especially the comparison with some other nations as we have the same data.

[00:17:17] Tom Kelly: That is fascinating. We'll have to talk about that after the season, because I really like that concept. I want to just touch on one other area before we take a short break, and then we'll come back and talk about this past season. But can you update us a little bit on Project X? That's a program that U.S. Biathlon has had in place for a few years right now, and is really providing a good pathway for young athletes.

[00:17:39] Armin Auchentaller: Yeah, I think so. X development is a pipeline, a pathway um, to for athletes who especially athletes who were in uh, the cross countries, uh, community and would like to, to try something new or to, to, to experience a new, a new challenge. And right now we have had Margie Freed going through this and Lucy Andersonm right now, but we had so many other athletes in the past who went through that pipeline. Most athletes, uh, we were successful with where were coming through the, through the pipeline as of now. Um, yeah, that's an important part for US Biathlon, the development team.

[00:18:36] Tom Kelly: We are with head coach Armin Auchentaler. We will be right back after this message on Heartbeat.

[00:18:55] Tom Kelly: We're back on Heartbeat. And today we're coming to you live from Antholz, Italy. Armen Alchian tolerant. Armen. Let's talk about this past season. A lot of highlights to cover, and I've got a little list here and have you talk about them, but, uh, certainly want to start out and talk about the World Championships. It was an amazing one for Campbell Wright, but also some other great finishes for US Biathlon in the World Championships last February in Lenzerheide.

[00:19:13] Armin Auchentaller: Yeah. I mean, the whole team did, quite well. I think, the female team did well, male team did well, we had a really, really great highlight with, with Campbell and with the two medals, which was also, I would say, I think it's history that an outlet did two medals in the same event. We had a good single mixed relay going. We showed that we have a broad field with a lot of athletes who can do good results. We are not consistent yet, though. We're not consistent yet, all the time. But it takes some time. We need to be patient. We know that the athletes work all very hard, and, we just need to have that patience and continue to grind and, you know, do the work every single day, have the discipline to do the work every single day. And, not focusing too much on results but more on the process.

[00:20:26] Tom Kelly: Armen, when you have a result like Campbell did, or two results like Campbell did two silver medals. How does that help the overall team dynamic? Does that help to elevate everyone and their motivation?

[00:20:40] Armin Auchentaller: I think so. It always helps to have results because people just stay positive. There's a good mood. People see that things are possible. But I think, the day after you did, those good results or the season when the season training season starts, once you had those good results, I think the best is to come back on the ground and just think of almost like, yeah, how can I get better? How can I do the next step and not sit and be comfortable with it? Almost. It sounds strange. Almost sounds strange. What I'm going to say. But it's like almost like I'm. You should almost treat yourself like you would have had another great season. And find those little details. Find those little things you want to work on to close, to close the gap. Basically always thinking of closing the gap instead of thinking, oh, I'm good enough now, right? And that overcomes, I think, also pressure to perform because it brings you back to focus on the process. It brings you back with the thoughts to work very, very hard to reach those goals because that's what you did before and that's what you need to do again. And not just thinking, oh, I'm there now. So confirming a good season is always difficult. But if the right mindset is given and you just continue to focus on the process and work hard, I think that's the key.

[00:22:26] Tom Kelly: Let's take a look at some other results. Personal best for Paul Schommer. Can you talk about his World Championships?

[00:22:33] Armin Auchentaller: Paul had a very, very difficult season. I would almost say comeback season. And he did really great. He was inspiring. His comeback was as inspiring as Campbell's. Campbell's medals, I would say he made it up from almost not moving or walking anymore. And with his surgeries and injuries, he had, uh, to come back and make the world championship. Make the World Championships. And, right before that, he had two podiums on the IBU Cup, which is which didn't happen that often in the past years from any outlet on the IBU Cup. So, I think his part got him back to the World Championship team was very inspiring, especially for me.

[00:23:46] Tom Kelly: The other one I wanted to ask you about was Jake Brown, and not a lot was heard about him, but he ended up with three top 30 results at worlds.

[00:24:00] Armin Auchentaller: Yeah. Jake Brown… very good season, I would say in the end. I mean, he struggled, though, in January with sickness, um, almost for a month, if not longer. Almost into the World Championships. But he, he fought through like always. He's a very, very hard worker, and he never gives up and that's important. And he has a very good attitude. He's a big believer in working hard. But he needs to also to to work smart. And that's what will be his challenge. And bringing up to the next, uh, to the next level.

[00:24:45] Tom Kelly: If you look at the rest of the World Cup season, what were some of the highlights that stood out for you across the whole season on the World Cup this year?

[00:24:55] Armin Auchentaller: Sorry. Again, the question.

[00:24:58] Tom Kelly: Yeah, I mean, if you take a look at the World Cup, uh, across the whole season, what were some other highlights that stood out to you this season?

[00:25:08] Armin Auchentaller: Well, difficult. This is an interesting, difficult question. I think for me, um, seeing or feeling, I would say that we are growing as a team, I think is is the best. That's the highlight for me. I think seeing all the athletes like really trying hard and working to reach those individual goals is a highlight for any coach, I think, especially if it's like among the whole team and that's what I'm feeling. I think we have a good team environment right now and that's also highlight for me, and it's getting better and better we have to work on. We cannot be comfortable there too, but I think with the respect among all the people who are working in the team, athletes and stuff, is is on a very good level and is improving quite a bit and we're very happy with that.

[00:26:14] Tom Kelly: To your point about the team elevating, I think if you look across the relay finishes across the entire season, both in the men's and the women's side, Is that good evidence of this team coming together as a unit?

[00:26:26] Armin Auchentaller: I think so. I think so. It takes always a whole team, and I realize for me are always inspiring or exciting races, and seeing them succeeding, uh, as a team is, is, is very fascinating, especially as it's, as we know, it's that difficult or so difficult that for athletes on a team, on a relay team, uh, are successful and going through and having good results, that's very difficult in biathlon. So and that's inspiring because always when there is a good result, um, you feel the vibes, you feel like a good, good, uh, you know, push through the team, and that's, uh, for the athletes. But it's also for, for the staff, like very exciting moments.

[00:27:20] Tom Kelly: Yeah, I totally get that. I want I wanted to hit one other really big highlight from last year, and that was the U23 globe that Campbell won. What does something like this mean as you kind of look at that next generation of US biathletes coming up?

[00:27:38] Armin Auchentaller: I think Campbell is that type of person who excites not only the next generation in the US, but he excites also the generation coming up on in on the in the whole world biathlon community, I would say. He's just he's just a, a good guy who just trains and tries to keep things simple and but on the other side, super professional. He never skips a step or he's never, um, in that situation where he thinks like, oh. Of rather, would you drink a coffee, then go for a run? No. He always. He always works hard. And then he can have a coffee. I mean, he's work first and then training first, and then he enjoys also a little bit his life and his. His way to be an elite athlete is very inspiring for many young athletes coming up.

[00:28:47] Tom Kelly: One final thing. Let's take a look at your hometown of Antholz. You had the Olympic test event this year. A lot of changes to the venue. This is one of the legacy venues in the sport of biathlon. But how did that test event go in January? And how do you, as a native of Antholz, how do you look at all of the changes made to the biathlon venue there?

[00:29:06] Armin Auchentaller: The venue was already in a good, in a good, had already a good structure and a good development, but the new developments they did on the venue are quite amazing. It's going to be, at the moment, probably the best stadium we have in the world. Very professional layout. There's nothing you can nothing you miss in that stadium right now. Also the slopes, the slopes are, um, still the same, but they are quite difficult in terms of, like to read how to pace them. And, um, but they're really nice to ski. The elevation is something which is challenging, but I think we're going to have a really nice competitions there.

[00:30:05] Tom Kelly: What is the vibe in your community looking forward to the Olympics? Is there a lot of excitement around town to be hosting all of the best athletes for the biggest sporting event in the world?

[00:30:15] Armin Auchentaller: I think so. I mean, the community here is a community who lives biathlon. Probably in every family. We had a kid or a family member who was either an athlete or a volunteer. So everybody has been involved in biathlon in this, in this town here for, uh, since the 1970s. So you can imagine how big this is for, for this little community here. We have, and I think everybody is excited to get the Olympics here and, you know, be maybe a volunteer or have a couple tickets to watch the competitions or just have maybe a couple athletes they know they can cheer on, or they see every day on the training and, and accompany them through these, these competitions. It's very exciting for everybody, I think.

[00:31:17] Tom Kelly: And the team will be coming to Antholz actually this spring and early summer for a camp, I believe in Antholz and Livigno, is that right?

[00:31:25] Armin Auchentaller: Yes, we will be in Livigno first for about ten days beginning of July and then travel over right away from Livigno to Antholz. And in Antholz, we will continue the altitude block which we start in Livigno and finish it up in Antholz. We chose Antholz this season. Because we want to get that feeling of feeling a little bit home and nothing is new, you know. So you know the venue, you know the facilities, you know where the little things are and like, so that when you actually hit the ground in February, it's it's nothing new. It's something you're comfortable with and, and you can like feel kind of like home. Last season we did the same thing with Livigno and Lenzerheide. So we had a couple days in Lenzerheide and had also the same thought behind it and just, you know, let's train in Lenzerheide for a couple of days to get comfortable with, especially because Lenzerheide was a venue not many knew till then. So we wanted to get to know Lenzerheide and this Antholz. Many athletes have already been here, but not in the summertime, so I think it's a good decision to go train a little bit in Antholz and enjoy the summer in Antholz, not just the winter.

[00:32:55] Tom Kelly: It's a great idea, I wish I could join you. Thank you so much, Armin. We're going to end it with our Fresh Tracks section. And I have just a really simple question to you. I understand that last October or September or October, in conjunction with the camp at Soldier Hollow, you and Emil Bormetti went down to Arches National Park, and I wonder if you could tell us about that experience.

[00:33:19] Armin Auchentaller: A wonderful, really, really great place to be or to visit. I've never seen such a beautiful scenery. I think, I think the US has so many other beautiful places, but that place is in my heart. It's a beautiful place. I hope I can I can be back. Fantastic.

[00:33:47] Tom Kelly: Well, I tell you, you guys should go down there every time you're in Utah. We love coming to Antholz and seeing the Dolomites, but we're happy to share our red rock here in Utah. Armin, thank you so much for joining us. Good luck this season. Have a great camp in Bend, and we'll see you in Antholz next February.

[00:34:04] Armin Auchentaller: Thank you, Tom. And to everybody out there. Thanks a lot.