US biathlon head coach steps down after team falls short in bid to win its first Olympic medal

U.S. Biathlon head coach Armin Auchentaller will leave the team at the end of this season after the Americans failed to win their first medal in the sport at the Winter Olympics.

No replacement was named, which is significant since he oversees both the men's and the women's teams. He took on the dual role when the previous men's team coach left after the 2022 Olympics.

Auchentaller, an Italian, brought the U.S. biathlon team inside knowledge to the Milan Cortina Games, having grown up skiing and racing at the range used for the Olympic competition. His assistant coach and the ski wax technicians are also from the Anterselva region. The team even produced a documentary about their quest for the teams' first Olympic podium finish: “Long Shots: U.S. Biathlon's Underdog Story.”

Yet they came up short.

Campbell Wright, the team's best hope for an Olympic medal after two silver medals at the world championships, said the skis the team was given for the 20-kilometer individual Olympic race were waxed poorly, making them slower on the ski tracks and less competitive in the race.

“The individual was a bit brutal, honestly, with the cards we were dealt,” he said after the 10-kilometer sprint race. “I don't think we had the best skis.”

Wright's best individual performance of the Olympics was eighth place in the 12.5-kilometer pursuit race. He also helped bring the men's team up to a fifth place in the 4 x 7.5-kilometer relay.

Only three of the eight U.S. team members, Wright, Paul Schommer and Deedra Irwin, finished the sprint race high enough to qualify for the pursuit race. And Campbell was the only U.S. team member to compete in the 15-kilometer mass start, finishing last in a race that showcases the top 30 biathletes based on Olympic and World Cup standings.

Auchentaller did not say where he was going or why.

"As I step away from my role with US Biathlon after 13 years, I do so with a full heart and deep gratitude," he said in the team's release. “This has never been just a job to me, it has been a shared mission, a daily commitment, and a journey that challenged and shaped me in ways I will always carry forward.”

U.S. Biathlon CEO Jack Gierhart praised Auchentaller for focusing on "building something that lasts.”

“He has shaped not only results, but the culture of this team that is grounded in excellence and built on respect, grit and a growth mindset, one that has elevated our performance and strengthened our entire organization,” he said.

Auchentaller's role with the U.S. team had changed over the years. He started out as the men's coach in 2009 but left to coach the Swiss women from 2014 to 2018, at which point he returned to coach the U.S. women's team.

Auchentaller was in that post during the Beijing Olympics when Irwin finished seventh in the 15-kilomether individual race, the highest U.S. individual placing in any Winter Games to this day. Norwegian Vegard Bitnes coached the men in Beijing, but left the team afterward and Auchentaller at that point oversaw both.

U.S. women’s team member Joanne Reid said combining the teams was detrimental to their performance. Irwin's best finishes in Italy were 34th, 35th and 47th. Teammate Margie Freed had the highest finish for the woman, 21st in the individual. Most of the other results were far behind.

“There was an objective and clear decline in women’s team results since they lost an exclusive women’s team coach,” Reid told The Associated Press in an email. “That’s a pattern that has been evident through coaching cycles in the program’s history, and not just from a single Olympic cycle. Running two different gender teams on the same training plan means one or the other is getting sub-optimal training.”

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