Campbell Wright became the fifth American to win an individual medal in World Biathlon Championships history, and then the first to take two at one worlds, earning silvers in Saturday’s 10km sprint and Sunday’s 12.5km pursuit in Lenzerheide, Switzerland.
Wright, a 22-year-old who was born and raised in New Zealand to parents who were born in the U.S., took runner-up to Norwegian legend Johannes Thingnes Bø in both races.
“I think this is what every kid dreams of, and I still consider myself a bit of a kid, and I was still dreaming of this,” Wright, who grew up skiing at the Snow Farm in Wanaka, said after Saturday’s race. “I was expecting this maybe in my career in my late 20s, 30s.”
Bø, a 31-year-old who plans to retire after this season, earned his 21st and 22nd career world championships gold medals, breaking his tie with retired countryman Ole Einar Bjørndalen for the most in biathlon history.
On Saturday, Bø shot clean and prevailed by 27.7 seconds over Wright, who also shot clean to beat Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, who had one penalty in prone shooting, for silver by 9.3 seconds.
Wright became the youngest American biathlete to win an individual world championships medal. The previous individual medalists were Josh Thompson (silver, 1987), Tim Burke (silver, 2013), Lowell Bailey (gold, 2017) and Susan Dunklee (silver, 2017 and 2020).
The U.S.’ first podium in World Biathlon Championships history came in the women’s relay in 1984, a bronze.
Then on Sunday, Wright hit 19 of 20 shots en route to another silver, 8.6 seconds behind Bø, who had two misses. The pursuit start list is based on results and time advantages from the sprint, so Wright began Sunday’s race in silver medal position.
“Just the biggest surprise, to be honest,” Wright said. “I proved everything I needed to prove yesterday, that I can race well. That’s all I came here to do. So today I was able to race super free. I had no expectations. I had no pressure.”
Wright left the last round of shooting trailing Bø by 14.3 seconds. He cut the deficit to 7.8 seconds at the 11.7km split before Bø held on in the final minute.
“I managed to do some good shootings, I think the last one was excellent, and then there is this young guy coming from behind,” Bø said.
The U.S. has never won an Olympic medal in biathlon.
By finishing in the top six, Wright is now in position to be the first biathlete to qualify for the 2026 U.S. Olympic team, should no other Americans finish in the top six of the remaining individual events at worlds.
Wright was introduced to skiing after his family moved from New Zealand’s North Island to the mountainous South Island. A neighbor’s grandmother happened to be Mary Lee, who had cofounded the nearby Snow Farm with her husband, John, in 1986.
Lee arranged an exchange with a Canadian that allowed Wright to spend one winter in Ontario.
“Seeing other people skiing just made me so excited,” Wright told the Penalty Loop biathlon podcast. “Even seeing cross-country skis for sale in a shop for me was huge because if you want anything like that in New Zealand, you need to order it a year in advance. So that is really when I just started frothing. I was just like, cross-country skiing actually exists, and I like it a lot.”
The next year, he got an offer to move to Europe and join what he calls “the refugee team” in biathlon. He said he lived in an Italian hostel with athletes from Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Chile, Ireland and Spain — “six bunk beds in one room, 12 people in a room.”
After a season of sticking to skiing in training and being left at the hostel while the others competed in biathlon, he made the switch.
Wright placed 32nd and 75th in two 2022 Olympic events while competing for New Zealand as the only teenage male biathlete at those Games. He also worked as a barista during the offseason.
Wright, a dual citizen, then moved to Lake Placid, New York, spent time training with the American team and switched representation to the U.S. in 2023.
“When I went to the U.S., I was just like, ‘You guys actually have facilities you can stay at for free?’” he told the Threshold podcast. “‘And you have a physio and a gym and a massage and a shooting coach?’ So I was just absolutely blown away by the support that those guys get.”
His bio now reads, “Kiwi racing for USA.”
Wright has progressed in the red, white and blue, placing 11th, 12th, 18th and 20th in four individual events at the 2024 World Championships.
This past Dec. 6, he placed fourth in the second World Cup race of the season. It was then decided that his teammates would shave their heads after Wright made his first podium.
“Honestly, I forgot,” Wright said Sunday. “Then I woke up this morning, and everyone had a bald head.”