Heartbeat S2 Ep2 Lowell Bailey - Tim Burke
Tom Kelly: [00:00:18] Biathlon is a unique Olympic event, it challenges participants with opposing athletic endeavors in a singular competition. It combines the heart pumping aerobic aspects of cross-country skiing matched with the intense focus of precision marksmanship. Two diametrically opposing forces testing every ounce of physical and mental strength of athletes. Welcome to Season two of Heartbeat, the U.S. Biathlon Podcast. I'm your host, Tom Kelly, and with each episode, Heartbeat brings you insights into this fascinating sport. In this episode, we will rekindle some memories from the past, but mainly look forward as U.S. biathlon prepares for the future. At the helm of high performance and athlete development are two stars who grew up together in the Olympic Village of Lake Placid, each going on to claim World Championship medals in their careers. Lowell Bailey won his World Championship gold in 2017 at Holck Avildsen Austria in the 20K individual. Today, he serves as director of high performance. Tim Burke took silver in 2013 at Nove Mesto in the 20K. He is now director of development and putting his own mark on the future stars of the sport.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:36] And today Heartbeat is taking you to the Olympic Village of Lake Placid, New York, and with me, Tim Burke and Lowell Balian. Guys, thanks a lot for joining us here on Heartbeat today.

Tim Burke: [00:01:48] Thanks.

[00:01:49] Absolutely. Thanks for thanks for having us.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:51] So I mean, just first of all, I know you guys have just returned from a great camp out in Utah at Soldier Hollow, the 2002 Olympic venue. Lol, why don't you kick it off? I mean, how did that camp go for everybody?

Lowell Bailey: [00:02:05] Yeah, it was. It's a great camp every year, I should say. Most years we weren't able to do it last year, but thankfully we were back in the saddle this year. And what's great about it is a lot of regional teams can join. So it's really a great chance for the U.S. biathlon community to be around the national team and for the national team to interface with them as well. The other big thing that happens at the Utah camp is it's the conclusion of the World Cup and IBU Cup trials. So we were able to do the last three of five races in Utah at the tail end of that camp and select our initial World Cup and IBU Cup teams off of those races.

Tom Kelly: [00:02:57] Tim, from a development perspective, pretty vital time for your guys.

Tim Burke: [00:03:02] Yeah, actually, especially this year, it's a really great opportunity to be out there with the junior national team. This season we have our youth and Junior World Championships in Soldier Hollow in February. So to get that group of young athletes out there training on that venue, getting used to the course, getting used to the range, having the opportunity to participate in those World Cup and IBU Cup trials and get races there on that venue is Really, really special for that group and I hope will give them give them a little advantage come February for World Championships.

Tom Kelly: [00:03:38] Well, I want to come back to the camp in a little bit and we can explore it a little more in detail and particularly those final time trial races on what was the snowy and wet weekend at Soldier Hollow. But I want to explore. Have each of you explore a little bit your background? You both grew up in Lake Placid, Lowell. You moved there. And Tim, you were a little bit more of a native and it was an amazing period. Not only you two guys, but Billy Demong, Olympic champion and Nordic combined and a host of other athletes were growing up there. Tim, you spent a little bit more time growing up there. Can you characterize what that culture was like growing up in Lake Placid?

Tim Burke: [00:04:18] Yeah, growing up in Lake Placid is definitely a was, I feel like a very special opportunity, especially for kids who have Olympic aspirations. You know, everywhere you go around the town here, you're reminded of the Olympics from the speed skating oval to the ski jumps to the bobsled track to the biathlon venue you're alway kind of faced with with the Olympics from 1980, and I think every kid growing up here that's in these youth sports programs has an understanding that the Olympics is not just this, this far off thing, it's something that's achievable, something that it's attainable for everyone. And I was lucky enough to to be one of those kids that grew up thinking that and it played out for

Tom Kelly: [00:05:07] Me. Lowell, you move to New York and eventually to Lake Placid. And how did that impact your sports participation at the time?

Lowell Bailey: [00:05:18] Um, yeah, I mean, I think we moved to Old Forge, New York when I was very young, when I was four, and that's where I first got my start. cross country skiing. Old Forge is even more rural than Lake Placid, so there's not a whole lot to do in the winter other than get outside and and do an outdoor sport and then when we moved to Lake Placid, it really is and was at the time a place where a lot of different winter sports intersect. And I think one of my first experiences with Lake Placid was going to a what was called a future stars camp that was put on by one of the regional coaches in New York, Roger Weston, at the time. And he brought a lot of kids from around the mid-Atlantic Region to Lake Placid to stay at the training center. And I just fell in love with the area and really just that Olympic excitement that was still there, even in that would have been early nineties. So really, I think it's you talk to anyone who's from here who is involved in the Olympic Movement, and it's part of the fabric of this, of this town and this area. So a lot of kids grow up on that path.

Tom Kelly: [00:06:44] Lowell, how did you make the transition to biathlon, what was it that initially spurred that on with you? In addition to what you were already doing with cross-country skiing,

Lowell Bailey: [00:06:56] I think like a lot of young junior skiers, I started out really getting more and more serious about cross-country ski racing, Eventually racing at junior nationals. And through the course of that experience, US Biathlon invited me as well as Tim and a bunch of others of my generation to kind of a talent ID camp again at the training center. And the thing that was great about it is they had really talented coaches. They had some, some some senior athletes there who were able to kind of interface with these junior skiers. And again, it was just something that .. iTt was exciting to me. I already loved cross-country ski racing, but you know, you added that element of precision and shooting and what's not what's not to like?

Tom Kelly: [00:08:03] Tim, how about you? What was your transition, was it? It was at the same time as Lowell, right?

Tim Burke: [00:08:08] Yeah, pretty similar. Maybe a little bit earlier than Lowell. You know, growing Up here, I was into the Youth Ski League And to the Bill Koch Ski League from a very young age and raced in cross country until I was about 12. And then I was in the The NYSEF nordic ski program here based out of Lake Placid, and we would be over at Mt. Hoevenberg training and had the opportunity to ski by the biathlon range and see different athletes out there training. And right away, when I saw it, I was just immediately attracted to it, right as a 12 year old boy. I thought what could be better than getting to ski around and to shoot at targets? So I was lucky enough to give it a try when I was about 12 and I was really hooked right from right from the very first time. So I kind of I would say I would. I dabbled in it from the age of like 12 to 16, and at that time, around 16 is when I started to take it a little bit more serious. When I joined more kind of elite talent ID type camps like what Lowell was talking about and never really turned back and never, never imagined that I would compete for as long as I did when I started, when I was just 12. But it was, yeah, an incredible journey.

Tom Kelly: [00:09:27] Each of you eventually went on to win medals at the World Championships and to become strong athletes on the IBU World Cup tour. But with every elite athlete, there's kind of that moment or that period where you transitioned from the development phase up to the elite phase. And you know, Tim, just to if you could start out with, was there any particular turning point or period that really helped you to make that jump from the junior ranks up to the world's elite?

Tim Burke: [00:09:56] I think, believe it or not, maybe it sounds a little strange, but the real turning point for me was even a little bit later on in my career, You know, when I was a junior athlete and making that transition to being a senior athlete in a World Cup athlete, my my goal at that time was to make an Olympic team. That was it. I wanted to make one Olympic team have that experience and figured at that time that I would be done with the sport. And after qualifying for the Olympic team in two thousand six, I feel like there at the Games, I saw some potential in myself that maybe I didn't realize was there. And then immediately after the games is when that big change really happened for me. After twenty six, there were a lot of changes in the program. The team brought on Per Nielsen as the new head coach, and I really, really clicked with Per Right away and decided, hey, let me stick this out for another four years. See what it's like to work with this coach who I think is really one of the best in the world. And right away from day one of working with Per, you know, I knew he believed in me and he really made me believe in myself. And from that point on, I went from being someone who was content to participate in the World Cup to someone who really wanted to be and truly believed. I could be one of the best. So when I look back at my career, that transition from 2006 to 2007 with the addition of Per to the team was really clearly the biggest turning point in my career.

Tom Kelly: [00:11:33] That's a fascinating story. And Lowell, how about you? Was there a particular period or moment for you to make that big leap?

Lowell Bailey: [00:11:41] Yeah, I mean, I was a little bit different pathway to get to 2006, But I have to day like, it's, you know, it's kind of a boring answer, but it's really mirrors kind of Tim's answer. I aspired to make an Olympic team that was my sort of life goal, and I and I did do that in two thousand six. It was a great experience. And with the addition of Per and the changes within the organization really positive change. You know, it really he was really inspiring and to this day is a very inspiring coach. It was really great to see what as an athlete when you put your mind to something and you have such great experienced support. It's a really powerful combination.

Tom Kelly: [00:12:38] You both eventually put it all together, you had great success internationally. Tim, I want to go to you first and that medal moment your silver coming in 2013 at Nove Mesto in the 20. What what was it on that day that clicked for you to put you up on the medal stand?

Tim Burke: [00:12:59] Yeah, it's it's funny leading into that world championships, I remember I had a great season going and I had a podium performance on the World Cup not too long before the World Championships, I had a great training camp leading up to World Champs, and I remember going into those to those World Championships, in Nove Mesto thinking that I was poised to really have a top a top result. I went there totally confident, thought it was going to happen and completely flopped in my first few races and was really surprised. I remember after the pursuit nearly being in tears. I just could not understand why I felt so flat, why it wasn't hitting targets. And again, this will probably be a reoccurring theme in this podcast. But coming back to Per and the great coach he was, I remember him just sitting me down and telling me, You've got you've got one more opportunity here and just go out there and focus on the things that you can control. You've had a great year, you've had a great camp. It's there. I don't know why it hasn't showed up yet here at World Champs. But it is there. And the next day went out and followed his plan and just tried to really focus on myself and things turned out and definitely one of my more memorable races in my career.

Tom Kelly: [00:14:24] I know this is a cliche question, but how did that feel when you cross the finish and you eventually knew that you'd won that silver medal? You know what was the feeling of satisfaction? What were the things in the memories that went through your mind then?

Tim Burke: [00:14:37] That's a really interesting question, and I think my answer will maybe surprise some people. When it first happened, it felt incredibly normal. And it felt incredibly normal because I had run through that in my mind so many times, and I really believe that that was the level that I had. I knew that I didn't need to do anything special. I just needed to do the things that I did every day in practice. Now, with that said, there's probably 30 people starting that race who are in that exact same boat. But I believed it. I thought about it. I visualized it when it actually happened. My initial reaction was, Yeah, this is this is where I should be. Of course, after that initial reaction, things really, you have more time to reflect on it, and it's certainly an emotional time. And I was was obviously thrilled, especially considering how how poorly my previous World Championship races had gone leading up to that that day. But when it first happened, it was it was something that I had already run through my mind so many times that I felt like I felt like it was just meant to be.

Tom Kelly: [00:15:49] Lowell, you also won your gold medal in 2017 in the 20K. What were your expectations coming into that day?

Lowell Bailey: [00:15:57] You know, I think a lot of what I worked on with Per and with Sean McCann, who was and still the sports psychologist for the team. When you think about it, you can only do what you can do. You can't control the rest of the field. And a lot of times when athletes miss their goals, it's because they get distracted and they aren't able to focus and execute the skills that they actually have trained and know how to do. And I think that, you know, for that race and that race series, I just really tried to stay with my own focus and not worry about what the results would be. So I think for for that particular race, expectations wise, I knew I was in decent shape and I had a good plan for the shooting. I felt good on that range and really, that's all I went into the race with in terms of expectations. I didn't go into the race putting that type of ... I think I never found that that type of pressure helped me to go into a race and say, if I perform really well today, I could win a medal. I feel like it's not that I ever went to that place, but what I found is any time I did go to that place. Things never really turned out well. My best races were always ones where I was just focusing on the process and not worrying about what the result would be.

Tom Kelly: [00:17:37] What was your feeling during the race, did you have a sense of where your performance was on that day?

Lowell Bailey: [00:17:44] Yeah, yeah, because I was one of the last I think I was second to last bib number. So I did know, especially towards the end of the race, kind of where where things were playing out. I didn't know what place I was in. Specifically, I just knew I was having a good race and I didn't really know it. Our staff did a really good job of just maintaining good, positive support throughout the race, but not really putting too much pressure on, but definitely going out onto the last lap because I was one of the last starters. Everything was, you know, everything was written except that last lap. So I knew where I was. I knew what the what the gaps were, who I was around, how close it was. All of that stuff. After the last shooting.

Tom Kelly: [00:18:39] You became a world champion for U.S. Biathlon, And as you thought back, much as I talked about with Tim, as you thought back on your career with that gold medal in hand at the award ceremony, were there any memories or thoughts from your past that came back to you?

Lowell Bailey: [00:18:57] I think the biggest thing is more of a general feeling of just how many people help an athlete reach their goals. I know that may sound cliche, but to see, I think being on the other, the other side, so to speak now, being on the admin side and helping athletes reach their goals and helping manage a team you do share in the success of athletes. And I think what I felt at the time was just how amazing the support that I had going through. Not only that, that small point in time, that race, that race day, but really just throughout my whole career, being a U.S. athlete, just the level of support and attention coaching, ski preparation. I mean I know to this day that that was a huge part of my ability to succeed.

Tom Kelly: [00:20:03] The two of you now are in a role to help other athletes, Lowell. You are the director of High Performance and Tim, director of athlete development, Lowell. If you could kick it off and talk a little bit more about what your role is as the director of high performance and how you impact the future of so many athletes here in the United States.

Lowell Bailey: [00:20:23] Yeah. So the high performance director position is really ... it's a little of a lot of things. So it's some team management and logistics. It's also some strategic planning and looking towards the future. What's going? Well, where can we improve and how can we do that? And then there's really the ... we have a really talented and dedicated staff at all levels, really. But for my part, I pretty much work with The World Cup and IBU Cup staff. So that's a little bit about my position.

Tom Kelly: [00:21:11] Tim, how about you on the development side?

Tim Burke: [00:21:14] Yeah, so I'm currently the director of athlete development and it's funny, right, working for U.S. Biathlon, where we're a small Oorganization. So everyone has these different titles, but everyone does a little bit of everything you need in a position like I'm in. I'm part time wax tech on the winter when I'm traveling with groups to coaching to even helping out, sometimes with national team camps. But of course, my focus is in development. I think right now it's an especially exciting time in U.S. Biathlon because we're really putting a lot more focus in development. In the past, it's something we've always wanted to commit to, but we've been more or less solely focused on our high performance World Cup and Olympic Teams. Now we've definitely taken a more long term approach to developing biathlon and realize that if we really want those top consistent performances at the highest level, we need to start focusing a little bit further down the pipeline. So it's been a lot of fun for me to go go from being a World Cup athlete to helping those athletes that are just getting started. I feel like I feel like in my career I certainly made plenty of mistakes, but I was fortunate enough to work with some really great people and it's just a lot of fun for me now to be able to to take those experiences to to learn from those mistakes. I made to think about what all I learn from these great people I've worked with and apply that to our next generations. Next generation of athletes coming forward.

Tom Kelly: [00:22:51] Development is a long process. I know and you've been in this role for only a few years now, but are you? Are you starting to see a bit of a shift? Do you have a greater comfort level now that you're a couple of years into the role that we have a good future with the athletes who are in the development pipeline now?

Tim Burke: [00:23:09] Yeah, I think, you know, like you said, I've only been in this role for a few years, but we've already made some good changes that we're seeing results from already. I think the biggest example of that is the restart of the junior national team. When I came on after 2018, there was no junior national team for US Biathlon and we've since restarted that and that program has allowed our best young developing athletes to have quite a bit more support. We have multiple training camps throughout the year. They have a dedicated resource and a coach, which at this time is me. And with that program, I feel like we've been able to bring along some of these athletes who would have been more or less on their own without that program. So we've seen some people come through like a Vasec Cervenka is a great example. Vasec is an athlete that I've worked with for the past few years on the junior national team, and he was able to make a pretty smooth transition now onto the senior national team. I think that that program with the juniors is really important in making sure that that happens. We've also had some success at Youth and Junior World Championships. In 2019, we had a bronze medal for Maxime Germain, who was a junior national team member. So I think results like that also really help show how important this program is, and it's just the start for sure. I realize everyone at USBA realizes we need to do more. It's not just about creating a junior national team. We need to do more further down the pipeline and we've got plans to make that happen and look forward to rolling out some new programs as well, starting as early as next spring.

Tom Kelly: [00:24:55] We're going to dive into vision and some of the programs for the future in just a little bit, but one that I want to highlight. If you could speak to a Tim as the Youth and Junior World Championships are coming to America this year, taking place in late February, early March out at Soldier Hollow. Just from a motivational standpoint for America to get to see the top junior athletes in the world. How important is this event at Soldier Hollow coming up later this season?

Speaker4: [00:25:18] Yeah, having youth and junior world champs in Soho in February, I think is just a great opportunity for US Biathlon on many different levels. For one, it's a great opportunity for our athletes that will be competing there. All of our athletes who will compete there in February We'll have competed there before one to try out for the team. But a lot of them have been competing there for years, so they know those courses well. They know the range. They're not going to have to deal with jet lag. They're not going to have to deal with long travel. So it really should set them up and be a good opportunity for them to really have their own personal best results there. But on the other side of things, I think it's important for US Biathlon because I really hope that it will be an event that will inspire a lot of youth athletes who have the opportunity to come out and just watch and spectate this event. It's a big event. You know, there's two different age classes. I think it's somewhere around four hundred athletes. They're competing. So I'm very, very confident that if we get kids out to watch this event, to experience this event, they will feel that excitement and it'll be something that they're going to want to take part in in the future. And I really hope that we can use that then to help grow the sport, especially in that Utah area where there's clearly a lot of potential.

Tom Kelly: [00:26:46] Lowell, I want to dive back into the camp at Soldier Hollow. This is an Olympic year. We're coming out of a COVID period where there was dramatic disruption in how you can get together as a team and train as a team with athletes and coaches. Was this camp at Soldier Hollow this past few weeks? Was that even more vital than in the past, given all those circumstances?

Lowell Bailey: [00:27:10] Yeah, I think throughout this this year, you know, I guess even going back to last year, what we learned coming out of last season, I think what we all learned athletes and staff was initially when we saw the COVID restrictions and we saw that we weren't going to be able to run centralized training in those centralized camp environments that we had grown to rely on. We thought, OK, we have really good regional centers. Athletes can stay at home. We have great coaches. We have great training plans. They'll be able to execute those training plans with the help of their regional coaches. And we felt pretty confident in that plan. And I think it went reasonably well, But definitely overall, the feedback overwhelmingly from the athletes and from coaches, from national team coaches was, jeez, we really underestimated what it means to be in a training camp environment, just you. You can't recreate that in any other way. So this year, right off the bat, we were able to bring the team together to have training camps every month. And I think that has really benefited the team and they've really appreciated that head to head opportunity to push each other in training. So Utah was sort of the final camp of the training period before heading over to Europe and doing the sort of pre-season fine tuning. And it was, you know, it was a great camp, concluding with three great great races, roller ski races. So I think everyone left Utah with a pretty positive feeling and ready to hit the road for the season.

Tom Kelly: [00:29:15] The other thing that struck me at the camp was you had pretty much everything going there. You had a full complement of coaches, you had sports psychology support, you had organizational leadership, you had the trustees there, you had spectators, you had weather diversity. So you had news media there. You pretty much threw everything at the athletes for those last few races.

Lowell Bailey: [00:29:38] Yeah, you know, I think we had again. I love Utah because it is sort of an intersection of a lot of different U.S. Biathlon groups. And so we had some trustees there to interface with the athletes. We were able to do an athlete awards reception, which we had to cancel all last year. So we were able to recognize some of the achievements that our athletes achieved last season. And that was really nice for, you know, a lot of the board members. You know, they've been devoting time and volunteering their efforts remotely for more than a year now. And I think it was really nice for them to see the athletes in person and see the reason that they're there, volunteering their time and being so generous with their efforts. So just a great chance for a lot of different parts of the U.S. biathlon community to to to see each other.

Tom Kelly: [00:30:43] Beijing is definitely a challenge, it's a challenge not just for biathlon, but for all sports, because essentially no one's been there, no one's been on the venues. I think you do have a plan now to get some coaches and technicians on the snow there to get a sense of what it's like. Lol, what's the plan as we head into the Olympics? Less than 100 days away?

Lowell Bailey: [00:31:04] Yeah. So we'll have our technicians on the ground at the end of December. They'll be predominantly testing grinds that we've developed knowing the different weather trends in Beijing, that is to say stone grinds. Also testing one of the other challenges we have this year is we have a sort of half of a non fluoro ban for ski wax. So some fluros are allowed, some are not. So we've had to adjust our waxing protocols and testing regime. So we'll be doing a lot of wax testing, a lot of stone grind testing, and it's a really intense period of time. Know it's you have basically four days to to really maximize our efforts on the venue. But feeling good about that, we've just finalized our shipping for our stone grinder. So our stone grinder will be on the high seas here next week, headed to Beijing, and we'll have that on site for the Olympics. So we're preparing as best we can. But it is, as you said, Beijing has been really closed off and so no athletes will see the venue until they get to the Olympics. So that's a big challenge for everyone. But I think we as Team USA are used to being flexible. We're used to traveling to foreign places. I think overall it's going to be a competitive advantage for us.

Tom Kelly: [00:32:40] As we sit here in early November, Lowell, where do we stand with U.S. team selection for Beijing? Who's qualified now and what are the next steps for the athletes who have yet to make the team?

Lowell Bailey: [00:32:52] Yeah. So we have two pre qualified athletes - Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, based on their results from last season, they met the pre qualification markers and then the rest of the team is still open and it will be a series of selections that occur throughout the beginning of this season. And so as we go through the season, there will be points where we select more and fill out more of the roster of each Olympic team, And then we'll have the final spots on the roster. Those will be named in early January, so we'll know the complete Olympic team at that point.

Tom Kelly: [00:33:36] Do you know about how many men and women you will have in Beijing? Is your quota numberffixed?

Lowell Bailey: [00:33:41] Our quota number, for all intents and purposes, is fixed. It got a little bit revised. The policies that govern that quota system have been revised due to COVID, but for all intents and purposes, we have for men and for women as our quota for Beijing.

Tom Kelly: [00:34:05] Just looking at the Olympics from a global perspective, either one of you chime in on this, but who should we be looking for internationally outside of the U.S. as potential stars of the games? Any thoughts to me, Tim do you have any thoughts on who we want to watch when we get to Beijing outside of the USA?

Tim Burke: [00:34:23] You will see the the normal kind of biathlon superpowers, if you will, who are clearly, clearly the ones to watch for that. You obviously have the Norwegian team, both on the men's and women's side are very, very strong. They've showed that last year, the last few years. The French team, as well, they've got multiple athletes, both men and women that are capable of stepping up on the podium. So I definitely expect to see strong results from them as well. The Italians, I think, are kind of a dark horse, obviously with Doro, Doro Wierer, she's not a dark horse, but the rest of the team there they always seem to pull it off at the Olympics and get multiple Olympic medals. So I wouldn't be surprised to see them them do it again. For me, I think what's really exciting about the Olympics, every biathlon Olympics that I have taken part in or watched, you always see at least one or two athletes stepping onto the podium who no one would have predicted before the games. I think that's one of the things that makes biathlon so exciting, which makes biathlon in the Olympics even more exciting, and I expect to see that happen again in Beijing. Who those athletes are? Who knows. But hopefully it's one of ours.

Tom Kelly: [00:35:39] Yep, and that's I think that's one of the things that, as you said, biathlon is so diverse, it's so, ever changing. You just never know what it's going to happen on any given day. I want to look to the future now and talk about vision. I know that you have developed a long term strategic plan that was presented last month to the Board of Trustees. Lowell, can you walk us through a little bit and some of the visionary thoughts that that you have for athletic performance and athletic development over the next few years at USBA?

Lowell Bailey: [00:36:13] Yeah, I mean, I think it was this strategic plan is a long term plan all the way through with really 2030 as the target. So we're really talking an extended time frame. And it was the really the thinking on this started actually a couple of years ago, and this is sort of the outcome of those efforts. And really, it hinges on this idea of looking at what some of the successful countries of our scale, what they're doing. And I say scale because there's just certain cultures like Norway that have ... their numbers are staggering. They have a really established biathlon culture in that country. We're somewhere in the middle and we've come a long way, but we want to move. We want to move that needle more towards the established biathlon culture side. So to that end, a lot of the planning is how do you how do you build out? How do you flesh out certain parts of our development pipeline so that an athlete can enter our development pipeline at a variety of different stages and progress through to the national team in a consistent way? So that's really the I guess the essential part of it is looking at really all aspects of how an athlete goes from just starting out in biathlon to being a high performer and competitive on the international circuit. And I guess in terms of vision, really the vision, the goal is that we have consistent success on the world stage by multiple athletes. So we don't want to be. I think we came from a place where we had little or no success or maybe success every five or six years to now. In the recent past recent history, that is, you know, we've seen medals periodically but consistently throughout each season. And where we want to go with that is just to continue that progression so that we're in a place where we're on a podium consistently. And it's not just one athlete that's on a podium that it's a variety of different athletes because that's where you achieve consistent, sustainable success as a biathlon country.

Tom Kelly: [00:39:06] One of the elements that really struck me in the plan was the growth of the base, the growth of the community in the clubs, and we certainly are familiar with what has happened at a number of great local club programs. Craftsbury comes to mind, Crosscut up in Bozeman. Here in Utah you know what's happening at Soldier Hollow is fascinating. Tim, can you talk about the importance of growing more clubs and looking for ways to get biathlon programs into more communities across America?

Tim Burke: [00:39:39] Yeah, it's a great question, Tom, I think the best answer, that question we have to look at, look at what we've done in the past. So right now with U.S. Biathlon, in the past, we have not really had contact to a lot of these athletes until they're about 16 years old. So until they're kind of making their first youth world championship teams, we're not really very involved on the national level. And we feel very strongly at U.S. Biathlon that to have this success and to grow our base and to grow our clubs. That needs to change. So we really need to provide better resources right from the get go. And a big part of that is going to be not only helping our existing clubs but helping to grow and start new clubs all around the country. We feel like if we can do that, that we can also create a lot more competitive opportunities for kids at these clubs. You know, kids that end up excelling in biathlon and doing well. These are kids that want to compete. They want to race their friends. They want to challenge themselves. And if they're the only club within a couple of hundred miles, it can be tough to do that by increasing clubs and increasing those competition opportunities. I think we will attract more kids and also retain more talent. So that's just kind of one one piece of the puzzle, but also having more contact with the U.S. biathlon community further up the pipeline as well. Just having more of a national presence at regional training camps, having coaches that are strongly aligned with U.S. biathlon training principles and philosophy in all of the regions. These are some of the real keys we see to bring a U.S.Biathlon forward and to, as the locals point to, providing more consistent results at that top level year in and year out.

Tom Kelly: [00:41:43] Just one more thing before we move on to our final section of the podcast called On Target. Lowell, just to go back to you, you guys are in the athletic realm, but it only works for you in athletics. If you have that support, you have the financial support and also the moral support of the country behind you. U.s. biathlon has become more creative, it seems, in the last few years in figuring out how to achieve more resources. How important is it to have that support and to have a collective community behind you to help fund these athletic endeavors?

Lowell Bailey: [00:42:16] I mean, it's essential. You can't. You can't do it without financial support. And so I really appreciate and I think the athletes really appreciate the level of support that U.S. Biathlon has now. I really feel like it's something we've never had such good support from a variety of different places. And like you said, you know, the word creative comes to mind because there's a lot of different entities that are behind us right now. Everything from our team, corporate sponsors, our apparel, our look right now is awesome with Maloja so the athletes are well clothed and they look good when they're out on the international field of play. And then on the other side, on the on the private ownership side, we have just we have donors that donate 50 bucks and we have a board of trustees that's really pounding the pavement, knocking on every door and garnering support in a lot of different places. So what's great about that is, you know, it's great when someone writes a check for for U.S. Biathlon that really, really helps. But what I'm witnessing is a lot of those people that may not have even heard of biathlon that that are are writing those checks are simultaneously becoming biathlon fans. And it's really cool to see that happen and to see that momentum build.

Tom Kelly: [00:44:02] You know, I'm going to add in one more, Ariens the snow blower company that is a big sponsor of U.S. Biathlon is located in a small community of Brillion in east central Wisconsin. And they are so motivated right now that they're actually looking to build a little cross country ski area and a biathlon range for the benefit of their community and the region. So it's really fun to see how these partners with U.S. biathlon have not only written a check to support the athletes but really become engaged in the sport.

Tom Kelly: [00:44:33] I want to move on now to our final section that is called On Target. I'm going to hit you each with a couple of what I hope will be simple and thought provoking questions at the same time. So to kick it off the proverbial question, I ask everyone on heartbeat. What is your favorite biathlon venue? Tim, why did she started off? What's your favorite biathlon venue?

Tim Burke: [00:44:56] My favorite biathlon venue was Antholz. Italy. It's a beautiful venue situated right up in the mountains. Typically when we were there, the weather was nice, the crowds were big and the food was Italian, so it was tough to beat.

Tom Kelly: [00:45:13] It is a great spot, and it is the majority choice of most of the guests here on Heartbeat Lowell. How about you?

Lowell Bailey: [00:45:21] Boy, that's a tough one, I think. In terms of sort of my race results, I have to go with Hochfilzen in Austria, but I also, if I can sort of break the mold, I would have to. One would be Hochfilzen and the other would be Oslo,the Holmenkollen venue there.home It's just the history that you feel when you walk on to that venue is amazing. And, you know, sitting on top of the city of Oslo, it's just there's no other biathlon venue like it.

Tom Kelly: [00:45:53] Now that is a really good one. I've been there many times and it is just a spectacular experience. Let's go on now to the most memorable experience, or maybe the best memory that you have of your career. Tim, your best memory.

Tim Burke: [00:46:11] Yeah, it's an easier one for me. My most memorable experience was putting on the yellow bib.

Tom Kelly: [00:46:16] Absolutely in 2009. You were, in fact, I think you're the only American to have led the World Cup. So tell us about the experience on that day and what that meant to have the yellow bib pulled over your head.

Tim Burke: [00:46:28] Yeah, that one was a different, different experience than what I explained for my World Championships medal in that I don't think I expected that to happen, especially when it happened. For sure. It's something that every biathlete dreams of but I didn't go into the season thinking I would be wearing the yellow bib at any point. So when that all came together, it really was a pretty big surprise for me, which made it definitely an emotional experience that really stands out to me in my long career.

Tom Kelly: [00:47:03] Do you still have the yellow bib?

Tim Burke: [00:47:06] I do. Yes, I do. Somewhere it's in my house somewhere.

Tom Kelly: [00:47:12] Lowell, how about you? What's your memory?

Lowell Bailey: [00:47:15] Yeah, I mean, I have so many great memories from competing, but also training and just the, you know, the traveling circus that is biathlon. I think one of the memories that will always stick with me is the sort of the feeling of coming around the turn in Hochfilzen after hitting the last shot at ... In the individual there and the moment I knew just where I was in the race. It's one of those like memories that's kind of etched in your brain. I can picture the where the crowd was, how the sunlight was, all of that stuff. It's like a it's like a painting that's there.

Tom Kelly: [00:48:01] I love the way you describe that. We're going to get probably a little bit more challenging here, but I'd like each of you to think about one thing that you'd like to see to help grow biathlon in America. Doesn't that the only thing or the best thing? But just what's one thing, Tim, to start it out? What's one thing that you'd like to see to help grow biathlon here in the United States? One thing that it's tough to pinpoint one thing well, you can pick anything.

Tim Burke: [00:48:27] I would say more TV exposure because it really is such an incredible sport to watch as a fan that I really believe if if kids were able to turn on the TV and see biathlon, the sport would grow very, very fast here in the U.S.

Tom Kelly: [00:48:45] That's a good one. Lowell, can you top that?

Lowell Bailey: [00:48:47] I can't top it, but I will add something else. So the IBU has a new initiative where they're trying to support new ways of bringing elite athletes together in competition. And one of the ideas is to have an international circuit that takes place in different regions of the world and one being North America. So I think one great, great way would be if international competitors of a high level came and did that type of circuit in America so that it was more visible and you had high level athletes competing in multiple venues around the U.S. and Canada.

Tom Kelly: [00:49:34] Yeah, I love that idea, you can totally see how that could impact kids, particularly in a country like this where we're removed from the core of where most competitions take place. So for the last question and I know this, this challenge is everyone. If you could say in one word, what does biathlon mean to you? Tim in one word, what does biathlon mean to you?

Tim Burke: [00:49:58] Oh, that is a tough one to me. Just the one word that comes up when I just think biathlon, it's thrilling from the athlete standpoint, the fan standpoint, you just never know what's going to happen. It truly is thrilling.

Tom Kelly: [00:50:15] Lowell, one word.

Lowell Bailey: [00:50:19] I think about so Tim's coming at it as like, what's the viewer or what's the spectator or someone looking at it experiencing? And I totally agree with that term. The word that comes to mind is thinking of it through the lens of like, really, I guess, the athlete. But the word commitment is the word that comes to mind. And I know that may seem odd, but I see the value that that word has had in my life as an athlete when I really committed to the sport and committed to a coach, and that coach was committed to me in an organization, was committed to me, just the power of all that. And so to me, it's a really positive term and a really powerful, powerful term that you see any success you see in biathlon. If you look behind that success, typically there's a lot of commitment.

Tom Kelly: [00:51:23] Well, I love that: thrilling and commitment to great words. Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey, thank you for joining us on Heartbeat.

Tim Burke: [00:51:30] Thanks for having us, Tom.

Lowell Bailey: [00:51:31] Thanks, Tom.

Tom Kelly: [00:51:33] You've been listening to director of high performance Lowell Bailey and director of Athlete Development Tim Burke from U.S. Biathlon here on Heartbeat, both of them World Championship medalists and helping to carve the future for biathlon in America. If you've enjoyed listening to Heartbeat, please subscribe and leave a review. We look forward to having you join us on many future episodes for all of us at U.S. biathlon. I'm Tom Kelly, your host for Heartbeat. We'll see you soon.