Pulaski Olympic biathlete Deedra Irwin looks ahead to 2030 games in France

PULASKI – The “hard work pays off” ethic of northeast Wisconsin showed up at the Olympic World Games in Italy, when biathlete Deedra Irwin shot 10-for-10 in the sprint for Team USA.

While Irwin didn’t make the podium in Antholz-Anterselva, Italy, she wasn’t expected to. Team USA hasn’t ever won an Olympic medal in biathlon, but it won’t stop Irwin from continuing to try.

“For me, hitting those targets and having those perfect races, it feels so good. It’s addicting,” Irwin said in a phone call from Italy.

Her goal for the team is a medal in France at the 2030 Olympics, and yes she plans to compete there.

Biathlon combines two sports – shooting and Nordic skiing – making it a challenge for the best athletes, said Irwin, an all-state runner for Pulaski High School and Wisconsin Nordic State Champion in two categories before becoming a three-athlete collegiate student at Michigan Tech in Houghton.

Irwin had one Olympics behind her when she arrived in Italy, yet she said she was more nervous this time around.

“I think I had internal pressure on myself of wanting to perform as well as I know I can,” she said. Having her parents and brothers watching her also put the pressure on.
“My parents from a very young age taught me that nothing in life comes for free. You have to work hard and really commit to whatever you’re doing, whether it’s a job or your sport or school,” Irwin said.

The 33-year-old biathlete said “that blue-collar northeast Wisconsin mentality has definitely helped me throughout my athletic career of just knowing that if I put in the hard work, good things will come, but I have to keep putting in the hard work,” Irwin said.

Deedra’s mother, Jennifer Irwin of Pulaski, said she and her husband Rodney of Marinette, encouraged their children to pursue athletics. “One of the things we would say is, ‘You can’t start and not finish. If you really want to do something, you have to do it all the way through,’” she said.

Growing up near the Green Bay Packers’ excellence, history and leadership also contributed to her athletic success, Deedra Irwin said. “It helped me chase such a big dream and really look at what could be beyond,” Irwin said.

Irwin’s aunt Amber Silkworth described Irwin as driven. “She’s very driven. She’s very committed to her craft. She’s just a go-getter,” said Silkworth, an economic support specialist for Oconto County, who is the twin sister of Irwin’s mother.

Biathlon hasn’t been a big U.S. sport. Irwin took it up at age 25, at the urging of her best friend Joanne Reid, an Olympic biathlete and niece of five-time-gold medalist Eric Heiden. Reid’s mother won a bronze medal for speedskating in the 1980 Olympics.

Irwin is accustomed to competing in Europe, but not with a family fan club cheering her on.
Irwin’s parents were at the games along with her brothers, Dan and Doug, and fiancé, Robert Burns. They were whoo-whooing for her, Irwin explained, a big difference from the 2022 Beijing Olympics held during Covid-19, when her fans watched from afar and no one was in Beijing to cheer her on in person.

“It was just a blast before every single race. warming up and hearing my brothers and my fiancé chant so loud that I could hear them in the crowd, chanting ‘U.S.A.’ and knowing that they were up there loving me and supporting me no matter how I did,” said Irwin, who was born in Marinette and attended kindergarten and first grade in Peshtigo before moving to Pulaski.

As the best biathlete in the United States, Deedra Irwin spends her life training for competitions. She is paid as a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program to train in biathlon for the Army. She is considered an active-duty solder athlete.

“Her job is to be in shape and competing all the time,” Silkworth said. “Being a full-time athlete, nobody can really understand the concept until you witness it.”

While Irwin didn’t beat her 7th place finish from 2022, neither did her teammates. Irwin’s 7th place finish remains Team USA’s best Olympic performance ever. This year, in the men’s biathlon, Wright Campbell finished 8th, the highest rank of the 2026 Olympic games for U.S. biathletes.

Biathlon isn’t an easy sport to ace, said Irwin, who didn’t learn to shoot until she was 25. As a Nordic skier in college, she had qualified for the U 23 World Championships and competed with Team USA. She moved to Sun Valley, Idaho and joined a professional ski team, but the expense almost pushed to quit. Then teammate Reid encouraged her to try biathlon.

Irwin said she would try it for a year. She has been doing it ever since.

To help pay for a career as a biathlete, she joined the Vermont Army National Guard in 2019, and now is a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, an active duty soldier athlete program that allows Irwin to train and race full time for the U.S. Army. It has given her the support to develop into a world-class biathlete.

“It’s been a unique journey into the military,” she said. “People can keep chasing their dreams a little longer than they think they can, and definitely just finding whatever path works for you. You never know how far it might take you. You just have to keep dreaming really big.”
When you’re competing against the best athletes in the world, even a tiny gain of hundredths of a second can be a massive accomplishment.

In the 7.5k sprint, Irwin shot 10 for 10, but said she didn’t ski as fast as she would have liked, putting her in 47th place. Her mother, who was watching, said an inexplicable wax issue slowed down Team USA’s Nordic ski times. “It’s going to happen,” Jennifer Irwin said.

Irwin’s mother said she has watched her daughter compete in World Cub races, but they aren’t the same as the Olympic World Games. “The atmosphere was just electric. It was so awesome,” she said. After a quiet Beijing games during Covid-19 in 2022, the crowds were impressive, Jennifer Irwin said. “The race was at 2, and we were getting up at 10 just to get a spot,” she said.

Deedra placed 34th in the 15k and 35th in the 10k pursuit, according to U.S. Biathlon. “My top result isn’t as good as Beijing, but I think my performance as whole actually was better and more consistent. I’ve been shooting better. I’ve been skiing better,” Irwin said in a phone call from Italy. “It just goes to show, it’s hard to have those really, really good days,” she said.
After placing 14th in a mixed relay, Team USA placed 18th in the women’s relay at 1:16:49.4, while Irwin’s score in the first leg was 18.01.7, just 44 seconds off the top score. She cleared the targets using just two spare bullets.

“I have more to learn and more to give,” Irwin said, noting some of the younger team members, such as Margie Freed, have made huge strides.

Irwin, who is engaged to an Alpine snowboarder Burns who also is in the Army athlete program in Stowe, Vermont, is looking forward to the 2030 Olympics in the French Alps. “I have my sights set on another four-year cycle. I’m really excited about that,” she said.

Despite the endless training, “It’s been amazing to have such a supportive community. Every single time I’m home, people are rooting for me,” Irwin said. “They see me out there training and they know what I’m working hard for.”