He is the shooting star of the biathlon World Cup: Campbell Wright. The 22-year-old New Zealand, who starts for the USA, surprises the world elite in Switzerland. But his success is no coincidence.
Then he stood next to Johannes Thingnes Bö on Sunday and still didn’t get the grin out of his face. For the second time, Campbell Wright had made it to the podium at the Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide. For the second time he won silver, both times were only that over athlete and never tired Bö, who clawed the title number 21 and 22 in his farewell World Cup in Lenzerheide.
“I just had to grin”
For a long time there was nothing to be felt from a special lightness because of his first coup in the sprint. “It was pretty hard again today, I had to fight quite a bit”he explained afterwards completely overwhelmed on ZDF. Nevertheless, he just felt good after his first medal – and once it runs, it just works.
“When I came to the last shooting, I just had to grin. When I saw that I didn’t make a mistake, I was just happy”he described the preliminary scene of the race. Wright was able to keep his lead over the pursuers and even dared to attack Bö. With the experience of almost two dozen World Cup titles, the grand master easily finished victory.
From down under to junior world champion
The success of Wright is no coincidence. It is the yield of hard work. As a teenager, he started skiing in the only cross -country area in New Zealand. His talent quickly showed up, as a 13-year-old he became a national U18 champion in cross-country skiing. In 2017 the rifle finally came.
He worked up to the fiction through the IBU Junior Cup, the youngsters championships and the IBU Cup. There he was able to sink points for the first time in his second World Cup race, was 40th in the sprint by Östersund. Overall, he came to 55 World Cup counters in the winter of 2021/22, lying overall in front of Justus Strelow or Eric Perrot, whom he was able to keep at the final round in the WM persecution of Lenzerheide.
In 2023 he finally managed to historical: At the Junior World Cup in Schschutschinsk in Kazakh, he became the first New Zealander to win an official IBU race. He was even the first person from the southern hemisphere who succeeded.
He was also a junior world champion. But the New Zealand team slowly became too small for Wright. Because he had already trained with the US team for a winter and his parents come from the States, he decided to change the association.
“I think you forgot my name”
It was a difficult decision for Wright. On the one hand, the significantly higher financial support as well as the better training conditions and also competition opportunities (e.g. in seasons) in the USA, on the other hand, the emotional bond with his country of birth. New Zealand’s biathlon boss Tim David didn’t want to put any stones in his way and became almost pathetic: “We just want the best for Campbell. We don’t lose a kiwi here – we give a kiwi the best chance of becoming a world -class athlete and leading a great life.”
Already after the silver triumph in the sprint, the 22-year-old was asked a little sentimental on the two hearts in his chest. “I am very sure that they will celebrate in both countries and are happy about what I did today.” Even if biathlon in southern Pacific only plays a subordinate role in public perception. After his first participation in the Olympics, attention had become a little more, now he just hoped that after his change they didn’t forget his name because he “Super Happy” be from New Zealand.
Campbell Wright presents his medal in Stars & Stripes.
But only in the United States could Wright create the foundations for these great success. With the admission to the national squad, he further improved under the Italian coach Armin Ahrentaller, and achieved two top 15 results at the 2024 World Cup in Nove Mesto. At the start of the current winter, he missed the podium by just four seconds. Wright became fourth behind Philipp Nawrath, who now landed at the World Cup 16 or 42 places behind him.
Where is the journey going?
So now the next step on the very big stage. Thanks to the flawless shooting and a top 10 term in the sprint, he was on the podium for the first time with the “big ones”. He was only the fourth male US biathlete who was hung up at a World Cup. And at the same time, with this performance, he also laid the foundation for his second coup. With just one mistake, as well as new top times on the track and at the shooting range, no pursuer could endanger him, even if he in the meantime fought a duel with the Italian Tommaso Giacomel.
But is Wright really as good as his achievements in Lenzerheide want to believe? Certainly he is currently not the second best athlete that the biathlon world has to offer. Two outstanding races do not yet make a world-class athlete. But the double vice world champion is a big promise for the future. Perhaps he will even succeed in becoming the second world champion from the United States after Bailey in 2017. A triumph that would certainly be celebrated in New Zealand.