Deedra Irwin: Friends Lead Runner to Career in Biathlon

Growing up in Wisconsin, Deedra Irwin loved to run. She had never heard of cross country skiing. But a friend introduced her to the sport as a winter training opportunity. After a strong high school and college career at Michigan Tech, she was ready to retire until another friend, biathlete Joanne Reid, introduced her to biathlon. Now in the national guard biathlon program, Irwin is a rising star for U.S. Biathlon. Heartbeat explores her pathway and what made biathlon so exciting for her, and the opportunities both U.S. Biathlon and the national guard are providing her.

What is Heartbeat: US Biathlon Podcast?

Heartbeat takes you inside the world of the unique Olympic sport of biathlon - a sport that combines the heart-pumping aerobics of cross country skiing combined with the precision element of marksmanship. The US Biathlon podcast brings you close to the athletes to dissect one of the most popularity of Olympic Winter Games sports.

Heartbeat S2 Ep3 Deedra Irwin
Tom Kelly: [00:00:00] Today on Heartbeat we're catching up with Deedra Irwin, and as we speak, she is in Vermont frantically packing and getting ready for the season ahead as she heads to the airport in the next couple of days. And Deedra, thanks for joining us on Heartbeat on the eve of the season.

Deedra Irwin: [00:00:16] Yeah, thank you for having me.

Tom Kelly: [00:00:18] You had a bit of a crazy year last year with COVID, and I know that many of those same protocols will be in place this winter, but you guys all survived pretty well last year. And are you looking forward to getting back over there and getting into competition again?

Deedra Irwin: [00:00:34] Definitely, I mean, that's what we train for all year, so I'm excited to get back on the racing circuit and definitely excited to travel again and see all my favorite places and hang out with my best friends.

Tom Kelly: [00:00:47] How has training been this summer? And I mean, let's start with the camp you just concluded out at the Olympic Trails at Soldier Hollow in Utah. Have you had good training this summer? You've been able to get with your coaches, maybe more than you did a year ago?

Deedra Irwin: [00:01:01] Yeah, the training this summer, actually for me has been really consistent, it's the first summer that I haven't had a major setback up until I had a bike crash, I guess about a month or so ago. But yeah, I think it's been really nice to be able to train with the team again and to be able to work face to face with the coach. Last year's COVID was really tough for everybody during the summer. And then the year before that, I think, was the summer I went to basic training. And the year before that I was injured. So this is the first full training season that I've had really good, consistent, strong training.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:44] Deedra, what are your objectives this season? I know as we speak, the competitive season is still about three weeks away. You're heading over to Europe and I know you have some camps over there, but what are your objectives as we head into the 2021-22 season?

Deedra Irwin: [00:02:01] Well, obviously for everybody, the Olympics is a huge objective this season, we all want to qualify for it and be able to represent our country in such a cool event. So the Olympics is always a lurking goal for everybody, but for me, I'm just excited to hopefully just make improvements on last season with both my skiing and shooting. Like I said, it’s the most consistent training I've had. I feel really strong and confident going into the season and I'm hoping to get my first World Cup points or help our women's relay get that podium spot that we know we can get.

Tom Kelly: [00:02:39] You were in, you were on the World Cup tour for a while last year. Can you tell us a little bit about the level up that you go from the IBU Cup up to the World Cup?

Deedra Irwin: [00:04:32] So difference between the IBU Cup and World Cup. Yeah, they're both very competitive and on the World Cup, you just have to take every mistake or success that you make and learn from it and really push all the way through the finish on each race because you never know how you're doing. And like I learned last year, really easily. It's only a couple seconds to the top 60 for that pursuit. And so you really have to take every second you can where you can and try and make that pursuit on the World Cup, where sometimes on the IBU Cup, you can maybe afford a few more mistakes and still make it. But on the World Cup, you definitely have to really hammer every second that you can.

Tom Kelly: [00:05:23] Yeah, it is pretty intense as you move up. I want to go back and explore how you got into the sport and we'll talk about biathlon in a minute. But growing up in Wisconsin, you found a pathway into cross-country skiing. Give us a sense of how that evolved for you growing up in Wisconsin.

Deedra Irwin: [00:05:42] Yeah. So I grew up outside of Green Bay, Wisconsin, so everybody knows the Packers. So it's definitely a football country there. And where I went to high school running was a pretty big sport. We had a couple of state champions and stuff go to my high school, so I was definitely drawn to cross-country running and track and field. So during the winter, I had a hard time staying in shape because I don't like running on snow. So I was for a long time. I was a swimmer to try and stay in shape, but I realized it wasn't really super beneficial for me going into the spring for track and field. And one of my friends on the cross country running team introduced me to nordic skiing and was like, 'Hey, give it a try. This is what I do during the winter.' And so me, having no idea what she's talking about, like went to practice and found out that nordic skiing is not only a hobby, but it's a sport and it's competitive. So I really had no idea before that, and I fell in love with it. And my mom loves to joke that I come home from practice one day, and it was the first time I'd ever said I was tired. Running never really did that to me. So skiing was definitely a huge challenge for me and I love challenges, so I was hooked right away and with the support of an amazing club team, the Ashwaubenon Nordic Ski Team and those athletes that pushed me to be into it, we were able to work out ski equipment and gear and help me develop in the sport throughout the three short seasons, I was in high school.

Tom Kelly: [00:07:22] So it sounds like you had the engine, you had the aerobic capacity. But how was it for you to learn the technique at first?

Deedra Irwin: [00:07:31] Oh, it was so difficult. I was terrible. I will be the first to admit it. I would finish every race and I just go up to my parents and be like, 'well, I fell five times this time, you know?' And then like a couple of weeks later, I'd be like, 'well, I only fell four times.' It was a very challenging thing for me. No one in my family has ever Nordic skiing before, so it was new for all of us. We weren't really winter athletes in any way. Besides, both my brothers did wrestling. So for me, it was really hard to kind of get that technique. And once I was able to get it down, though, you know, like you said, I was able to use that engine a little bit more. I wasn't struggling to just go fast and fall down and get back up. I was able to use the aerobic capacity that I developed as a runner and actually become more efficient in skiing. And I think that's kind of been the name of the game for me. On the nordic side, the further and further I've gotten along in the sport is just fine tuning, the crazy technique that comes with this sport and to make it as efficient as possible with the aerobic capabilities that I have.

Tom Kelly: [00:08:38] When you were doing this in high school, at what point did it transition from being a training activity to a competitive activity?

Deedra Irwin: [00:08:48] I think about like a year or so in. They introduced me to the summer training of roller skiing, and that's when I guess it kind of really clicked for me that like, if I could figure this out, I could be competitive and this could be a really cool sport for me to do. I wasn't really looking at doing it in college at all at that point, but I got pretty injured my senior year of high school in running. I almost slipped a disc in my spine and I had to take a step back from running, which then made me kind of focus more on skiing because of its low impact on the body. And that's when I kind of made a big jump and I qualified for my first. I think that they're called Junior Nationals back in the day. And that kind of really introduced me to skiing outside of the Midwest, which was really cool to me, and I got to meet so many people from all over the world and it was one of the first times I traveled outside of Wisconsin. And it was just really enlightening for me to see kind of what nordic skiing could lead to. And that's when I started looking at colleges that had nordic ski programs, but I wasn't ready to give up running yet, so it had to also have a running program that wanted me. And that's when I stumbled upon Michigan Tech and their program, and they recruited me mostly for running, but they allowed me to walk onto the nordic ski team and guess the rest is history. I spent five years at Michigan Tech competing in cross country, nordic skiing and track and field, and I made NCAA's twice in nordic skiing and set a handful of records in running for the college. And let me think in my super senior year of college that my fifth year is when I, out of nowhere, qualified for you, U23 World Championships in 2015, which was definitely a goal of mine, but kind of surprising when it happened. And that's also where I met Joanne Reid, who's one of my best friends today. And I traveled over there and that opened up my eyes to a professional nordic career beyond college. And that's when I moved out to Sun Valley, Idaho, and skied professionally with them for two whole seasons.

Tom Kelly: [00:11:17] Let's talk about that U-23 World Championships. You went to the one in Almaty, Kazakhstan, right?

Deedra Irwin: [00:11:23] I did. And that was when they had a bid for actually these 2022 Olympics.

Tom Kelly: [00:11:28] Yeah, I know a lot of us think back to that time and wondering where we would be now if we were heading to Almaty and not Beijing, But that that had to be a real eye opening experience to go to a completely different part of the world like that.

Deedra Irwin: [00:11:42] Yeah, I'd never traveled. So far, I think in college the furthest I traveled, I studied abroad in Costa Rica for a semester. But in that case, you're still in relatively North America area. So flying over the Atlantic for the first time, I thought I was going to Europe. I woke up in Asia and I was so confused. I had never experienced such dramatic jet lag. I was terrible at figuring that out. I was the one that on the trip that they had to wake up for dinner, but I was up at 3:00 a.m. It was a confusing time for me, but it was really incredible to just be submersed in such a different culture than you're used to in any other place that I've been. So it was really, really incredible experience and also for them to have the Olympic bid and really show off their town and their venue. It was quite an experience.

Tom Kelly: [00:12:42] So Joanne Reid had kind of given you that little spark. And then it was a tryout camp at Lake Placid that really got you to the next level.

Deedra Irwin: [00:12:51] Yeah. So I was thinking about retiring from nordic skiing right before the Olympic season, actually in 2017, 2018. And she just reached out and was like, 'hey, what are your plans? What are you doing?' And I was like, 'I'm going to retire.' And she's like, 'you should try this talent ID camp in Lake Placid.' So I applied for it. They invited me and I fell in love right away. I met Bernd (Eisenbichler) and Jean Paquet, who used to be the high performance director and the development coach. And the sport just was such a cool thing, a good reset for me in my athletic career. I was getting a little burnt out on the nordic side and everything like that. So it was such a cool program to be a part of, and I just felt the passion of everyone in it that everyone has for biathlon in this program. So it was just a no brainer for me to give it a try for a season. And now that season is turned into a career

Tom Kelly: [00:13:58] So much like in high school, you had to get used to cross country skis as a new device. Part of your athleticism now you had to get used to marksmanship and shooting. How did you progress during that and who are the real influencers to help you become a good marksman?

Deedra Irwin: [00:14:18] Yeah, it was a huge disadvantage coming into it, but it really just came down to. ... I guess ... I'm trying to think of the right word ... repetitions with Jean in the dry fire room in Lake Placid. And at the same time, too, I think it was, who else was living there? Jenny Bender and Maddie Phaneuf, we were all there at the same time and learning from their experience of, you know, Maddie having been in the sport for so long and Jenny having started, I think about maybe six months to a year before me. It really helped having people there who really knew that shooting aspect or knew, you know, how it felt to go from nordic to biathlon. So I learned a lot just about getting into position. And you know, all those little steps it takes to like, get the rifle off your back and into a good good shooting position. And then from there, obviously, I just, you know, you have to learn the breathing and learn the trigger control a little bit at a time. And I think I had my first experience where it all just clicked and felt like a habit when I was over in Europe competing for USBA. I got done and I think I hit 19 for 20 or something like that in the race and everybody was like, 'What did you do?' And I was like, 'I don't know, I blacked out.' It just all happened so fast, you know? And it was such a cool experience where I was like, Whoa, it's just become a habit now where you know you, you don't have to think so much about all the little parts. And that's kind of how I feel now. It's funny when I try to explain to people all the little steps that go along with it. I almost can't anymore because it's just become such a habit and. You just know all the little things it takes now, so it's harder to break it down the longer you've been in the sport.

Tom Kelly: [00:16:22] You had a friend in Joanne Reid who really gave you that initial impetus and helped to motivate you to get into biathlon and add a new dimension to your cross-country ski racing. You now are an accomplished biathlete. If you were talking to a young cross country skier, what would you tell them about biathlon that really would make it cool to them and make them really want to take that same step that you did?

Deedra Irwin: [00:16:49] I mean, I love challenges. And so I think Joanne knew that in me, and she knew that I loved training and I like putting in the work. And so that's why I think it made sense for her to introduce me to biathlon. So I think it's very similar to a nordic skier. So like I said, I was getting a little burnt out in nordic skiing, but I still loved training. I still loved the sport. So biathlon just kind of adds that little bit of an extra step and maybe a little challenge for someone who's maybe struggling to feel the passion still for nordic skiing. And I think that was more my issue or for people who are just really up for a huge challenge. I mean, it's not an easy sport by any means to just hop into. And I think I was very lucky to be able to come into it and make the advancements that I did with the coaching I did. But it's really a challenge. And if there's anybody like out there who's up for the challenge and up for the work and loves the sport, there's resources and there's people who are always willing to give a helping hand and really, you know, help you pursue this if that is something that you're interested in.

Tom Kelly: [00:18:08] So it's been interesting to watch the last few years, I think with some of the success of US biathletes like Susan Dunklee and Lowell Bailey, that there is a little bit more buzz about it around the country. There's more clubs getting into the program. Do you see more opportunities now for young athletes to find a biathlon program and to advance within the sport?

Deedra Irwin: [00:18:30] Definitely. I think there's so many opportunities. I know when I first joined biathlon, I went back home and all of a sudden I got contacted by a local club who had started biathlon. And so now I get to go home to Green Bay, Wisconsin, and there's an eight point biathlon range where I used to train every single day in high school, and it's just like a really cool opportunity for people to get introduced to the sport, and I think that's the biggest setback right now for biathlon or even for any silent sport, is it's just kind of getting people interested and getting people to know that there are opportunities to do it, even if it's just a couple of times a week or something like that, it's. You know, finding finding the programs, and so it's really cool to see so many different ranges being set up and clubs developing and and every time I'm on Instagram, I have people all over the country, you know, contacting us and asking us how how they can support us and how they can support younger biathletes. And I think it's just so cool that especially our athletes, because we came from so many different backgrounds and a lot of us started the sport a lot later, including the majority of the women's team. We're very passionate about spreading the word about biathlon and trying to get as many people involved as we can, whether they're supporters or young athletes.

Tom Kelly: [00:20:02] Tell us about your training base in Vermont. You've chosen to make that the place that you call home and prepare yourself. Tell us about what you have found there and how being around some of your other teammates there has really helped you.

Deedra Irwin: [00:20:18] Yeah, I am so incredibly grateful for the National Guard biathlon program. Never in my life would I have thought I would ever want to join the Army, but it has been such an incredible family inside the Biathlon National Guard side and also outside in just my unit and the entire state of Vermont. Everyone is so passionate about helping us as soldiers and us as athletes. We have a world class facility in Jericho and it's just incredible to be able to go there every single day and train on, you know, five kilometers of roller ski track, a full 30 point range with two coaches that are there every day just trying to facilitate such. You know, good practices and having so many of the World Cup athletes on the team like Leif Nordgren and Sean Doherty and Vasek Cervenka, it's it's really nice to be able to work with them and use this program in this facility to really support my goals as a biathlete and then also to have that opportunity for a career after biathlon. So the National Guard program has been just a huge blessing in my athletic career to be able to be a part of it and to be able to train somewhere that. Is just so passionate and so supportive.

Tom Kelly: [00:21:52] So I think when most of us look at athletes in this program, the first question that we want to ask is how was basic training?

Deedra Irwin: [00:22:01] Everyone asks that, well, basic training is different for everyone. Nobody's stories are the same. They have some similarities. But for me, I went to basic training when I was 26, I turned 27 while I was at basic training and I will say it is hard. It was very hard mentally to to be in such a situation where I'd been so independent and able to make all of my own decisions for my own life and my whole life. And then, you know, for four months, you're. You're told what to do every single day, and that was a little hard for me to get past, but I learned very quickly that, you know, there's a lot of sacrifices that need to be made to have that type of discipline. And I learned a lot about just how to listen and observe and respect people from all different walks of life because you're thrown into this tiny barracks with. For me, it was 40 other women and about, I think, 80 men in my unit. And you just learn a lot about people and. Yeah, it was a different experience for everybody, so I know basic training has changed a lot since I've been already. So even if you ask some of our newer soldiers like Eli Nielsen and Maxime Germain, they would have totally different stories about what they went through. But yeah, physically it wasn't too bad for me. You know, obviously we all went in pretty athletic, but mentally it can be a little draining sometimes.

Tom Kelly: [00:23:43] Well, I think the other aspect of it, and I'm sure you've heard this from family and friends, is there's a great pride in you doing what you do and representing your country as a soldier, not just a biathlete.

Deedra Irwin: [00:23:58] Yeah, I never really understood that until I had gone through basic training and AIT and met a lot of my drill sergeants and commanders and literally anyone in the army who is actually been deployed and served our country overseas. And you really do. It humbles you while you're at basic training and you're hearing these stories about what people have gone through, and it does instill this sense of pride that you're able to wear the same uniform as them. So it does. Really mean a lot to me to be able to kind of be put in that same category as some of those soldiers and every chance I get now, I think a veteran for what they've done because right now I get to kind of live the dream, being an athlete for the National Guard. But we all do know that at some point we might have to deploy or and then, you know, it would be an honor to be able to serve the country in that way. And I'm just honored that I'm able to serve the country in the way that I can right now as an athlete.

Tom Kelly: [00:25:04] Deedra, you're about to head over to Europe and on the World Cup tour, and eyes set on Beijing at some point. U.S. Biathlon has an extensive support program for the national team. How does that benefit you and what's the importance of having that that support around you as you head out on the tour now?

Deedra Irwin: [00:25:24] Yeah, I mean, we have an incredible group of people working behind us from our our sports psychologists to our nutritionist, our logistics, and they're working tirelessly to make sure that we can be comfortable and and don't have to worry too much about everything outside of just racing. And so they are incredible people and we're super grateful for them and we're excited to represent them to while we're racing abroad and hopefully, yeah, making a good showing at the Olympics.

Tom Kelly: [00:26:04] Well, Deedra, it's been fun to hear about your past and how you've made it through this pathway. We're going to end the podcast with a section that I call On Target a series of hopefully simple little questions for you, and I want to start out and just ask you a simple one. When you're growing up in Pulaski, Wisconsin, did you have any particular sport heroes that you looked up to?

Deedra Irwin: [00:26:24] Oh man, I'm a huge football fan, so I got to say, like the Packers in general, like Donald Driver was one of my favorite athletes, but I was also a huge track star. So I remember watching Lolo Jones when I was in high school, and I think I even went to some camps like Suzy Favor Hamilton camps and stuff like that. So yeah, but mostly the Packers. I'm a cheesehead at heart.

Tom Kelly: [00:26:59] Have you been to a packer game at Lambeau Field?

Deedra Irwin: [00:27:03] Oh yeah, it is so cool. Highly recommend it to anyone. If they want to go, I'll go with them. Yeah.

Tom Kelly: [00:27:09] Do you bring your cheese head on the road with you?

Deedra Irwin: [00:27:12] Uh, my parents did joke that if they were able to go to the Olympics, they would definitely be wearing their cheeseheads. But sadly, it doesn't look like Beijing's going to allow spectators, so we'll have to save that for 2026.

Tom Kelly: [00:27:27] I'm sure we can figure out something.

Deedra Irwin: [00:27:31] If someone sends a cheesehead I'll definitely wear it.

Tom Kelly: [00:27:34] Ok, well, I'm going to hold you. I'm going to hold you true to that one.

Deedra Irwin: [00:27:38] Ok?

Tom Kelly: [00:27:38] How about your favorite biathlon venue?

Deedra Irwin: [00:27:42] Yeah, I have a soft spot for Hochfilzen, I think that was the first World Cup race I ever made. I got bumped up for a relay one year and I just remember coming out of the tunnels at that venue and looking back at the crowd and just being like, holy crap, because I saw it on TV a million times. But it's not actually till you're there on the World Cup and you see it that you're like, Whoa. And so that venue holds a special, special spot in my heart. And that was also the first I think the first pursuit I ever made to on the World Cup last year was at Hochfilzen.

Tom Kelly: [00:28:23] How about your favorite activity to wile away the time when you're on the tour all winter long?

Deedra Irwin: [00:28:30] Netflix and knitting

Tom Kelly: [00:28:33] Netflix, anything, you can do them together.

Deedra Irwin: [00:28:36] Yeah, you know, I like to just kind of watch a random TV show and knit some socks. Joanne could be a witness to that. I met her a couple of pairs of socks last year.

Tom Kelly: [00:28:49] I love it. And then finally, if you could sum up what biathlon means to you in just one word, what would that be?

Deedra Irwin: [00:29:00] Feel like I use it a lot. Passion.

Tom Kelly: [00:29:04] Passion, love it. Tell us about it.

Deedra Irwin: [00:29:07] I think that so many people in U.S. Biathlon and in biathlon throughout the world are just so passionate about this sport. It is intoxicating. You are out there even just watching it on TV and seeing those thousands of fans, you just see it. Everybody has it. It doesn't matter who wins or who loses or, you know, anything like that. People just love the sport. And I think that is one of the reasons that really drew me to it and help me kind of push through that a. You know, transition from nordic to biathlon, which is the amount of passion I felt from everybody involved in the sport.

Tom Kelly: [00:29:51] Well, it has been a joy to talk to you and to learn more about that passion. We all wish you the very best. This Olympic season and thank you for joining us on heartbeat.

Deedra Irwin: [00:30:00] Thank you.

Tom Kelly: [00:30:02] You've been listening to Deedra Irwin here on Heartbeat, the U.S. Biathlon podcast. Plenty more episodes to come this year. Make sure to leave us a review. Subscribe so you make sure you get every episode. Thank you very much to Deedra Irwin for joining us here today. We'll be back again soon on Heartbeat. This is your host, Tom Kelly. Thanks for joining us.