Dan Cnossen: Navy Seal Turned Paralympic Biathlon Champion

07/21/20 • 56 min

Growing up on a fifth generation family farm in Topeka, Kansas was a long ways from the Paralympic ski tracks of PyeongChang. In 2018, Dan Cnossen became the first biathlete to win a Paralympic gold medal, earning a gold, four silver and a bronze in biathlon and cross country. Cnossen's story is remarkable - a decorated war veteran who lost both legs above the knee on a 2009 Navy Seal mission in Afghanistan. A year later, he was on cross country skis at West Yellowstone, Montana. Heartbeat explores his life, motivations and resiliency in an emotional hour long interview with Dan Cnossen.

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Heartbeat Ep 3 - Dan Cnossen

Tom Kelly: [00:00:18] Biathlon is a unique Olympic and Paralympic event. It challenges participants with opposing athletic endeavors in a singular competition. It [00:00:30] combines the heart pumping Arabic aspects of cross-country skiing match with the intense focus of precision marksmanship. Two diametrically opposing forces testing every ounce of physical and mental strength of the athletes. Welcome to Heartbeat. The U.S. biathlon podcast. I'm your host, Tom Kelly, and I'm proud to bring you regular insights into this fascinating sport. Today's guest on Heartbeat is an amazing athlete and a remarkable American. Dan [00:01:00] Cnossen grew up on a farm outside Topeka, Kansas, an unlikely environment for a cross-country skier. In 2009, Lieutenant Commander Dan Cnossen, a leader of Navy SEAL Team One, lost both his legs in Afghanistan when he stepped on a mine. Undaunted, he found a pathway in sport from a hospital bed in Walter Reed Medical Center to the tracks and shooting ranges of Sochi and Pyeongchang. He became one of the most decorated stars of Paralympic sport, [00:01:30] winning six medals in South Korea, including a gold the first ever by a U.S. by athlete. And Dan, it's an honor to have you join us on Heartbeat, the U.S. biathlon podcast.

Dan Cnossen: [00:01:41] Thanks for having me, Tom. I'm looking forward to our talk today.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:45] So where are you coming to us from today, Dan?

Dan Cnossen: [00:01:48] Coming to you from Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb just west of Boston.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:52] A beautiful place. Is that your training base?

Dan Cnossen: [00:01:56] Yes, it is. For most of the year, minus the time that I'm away for [00:02:00] camps on snow or the occasional surf trip. Not happening this time of year. Right now, the coronavirus and everything going on.

Tom Kelly: [00:02:09] I want to get into talking surf a little bit later, but I know all of us are in kind of the same boat right now with Corona virus having dictated our life. And for athletes training and and your goal setting. What have you been doing over the last few months in Natick, Massachusetts?

Dan Cnossen: [00:02:27] Well, you know, we came back from our [00:02:30] world championships, which was prematurely canceled before the first race even began. This was going to be an Östersund Sweden and this was in early March. We came back, I believe, on March 12th. And and then since then, I've been readjusting. I'm thinking that it's not at all really appropriate to be complaining about my situation, cause I'm in a very fortunate situation where I can stay healthy and still get my workout worn outside. And a lot of people are in situations like that. So for the most part, I've been following [00:03:00] my training plan, not really going to the gym because gyms haven't been open yet, but that's OK. And I'm enjoying being outside and doing a lot of reading and maybe doing the occasional talk like we're doing and spending time with family, talking to family who are not co present. And also, I decided to start setting for the GRV again to have another test that I'll take in late September.

Tom Kelly: [00:03:26] Yeah, you know, I think like all of us, you have to improvise [00:03:30] a little bit without access to the gyms, have you improvise things around home, like for lifting weights or other kind of exercise?

Dan Cnossen: [00:03:39] Yes, I have done a little bit of that, but I just had no home gym equipment and it was in high demand. Hard to get a hold of. And I haven't really prioritized getting it. I can do some push ups and things like that and certainly can do core exercises. But really just looking at other ways of getting strength through my [00:04:00] training platforms, through hand cycling, maybe doing hills or through the prone paddleboarding that I do as another form of cross training. And that is certainly a strength intensive activity. So doing sprints and things like that. And it's just been a load for me, honestly, a nice little departure from the ...

PODCAST TRANSCRIPT

Heartbeat Ep 3 - Dan Cnossen

Dan Cnossen: [00:01:41] Thanks for having me, Tom. I'm looking forward to our talk today.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:45] So where are you coming to us from today, Dan?

Dan Cnossen: [00:01:48] Coming to you from Natick, Massachusetts, a suburb just west of Boston.

Tom Kelly: [00:01:52] A beautiful place. Is that your training base?

Previous Episode

Bringing Life Experience to Biathlon: Sara Studebaker-Hall

Athlete, coach, program leader, NCAA team champion, two-time Olympian. Idaho native Sara Studebaker-Hall has spent her life in winter sport. This past February she took on the role of US Biathlon’s director of operations. A few weeks later, she and her colleagues were deep in management of how to get the US Biathlon Team home from Finland when COVID-19 travel restrictions broke out. Sara’s vast knowledge of and passion for biathlon is telling. In this insightful Heartbeat podcast, she recounts her pathway into biathlon and how she progressed. She tells an emotional story of making a pact with teammates to make the Olympic Team together. And she smiles as she talks about raising young son August just a few kilometers from the Olympic trails of Soldier Hollow. As operations director for US Biathlon, she makes it all run smoothly. And she also helps tell the story of the sport. “Communications is key.” Her in-depth conversation with Heartbeat host Tom Kelly will take you inside the world of biathlon to learn what Sara brings to the team and to clubs around the country.

TRANSCRIPT
Tom Kelly: Biathlon is a unique Olympic event. It challenges participants with opposing athletic endeavors in a singular competition. It combines the heart pumping aerobic aspects of cross country skiing match with the intense focus of precision marksmanship - two diametrically opposing forces testing every ounce of physical and mental strength of athletes. Welcome to HEARTBEAT, he U.S. Biathlon Podcast. I'm your host, Tom Kelly, and I'm proud to bring you regular insights into this fascinating Olympic sport. We hope you enjoyed our debut podcast with world championship medallist Susan Dunklee. Today, we'll take a look inside the operations of U.S. biathlon and the support it provides to athletes in clubs across the country. Our guest today is a veteran athlete and a two time Olympian. After her retirement in 2014, she expanded her role in the sport as a coach, club leader and an athlete representative. Sara Studebaker-Hall is an Idaho native who spent seven years on the U.S. Biathlon Team competing in both the 2010 and 2014 Olympic Winter Games while at Dartmouth College. She was on the 2007 NCAA champion team. She went on to coach at the University of Alaska-Anchorage and Soldier Hollow. She has served on the U.S. biathlon board and as an athlete representative to the USO Pieces Athletes Advisory Council. This past January, she was named director of operations for U.S. biathlon, making her home not far from the Olympic venue in Soldier Hollow with husband Zach Hall and their young son, August. Sara, welcome and thanks for joining us on HEARTBEAT.

Sara Studebaker-Hall: Thanks, Tom, it's great to be here.

Tom Kelly: So what has your pandemic life been like down in Midway, Utah?

Sara Studebaker-Hall: You know, I feel pretty lucky overall, we are in a relatively rural area. We've been able to get outside. My husband and I have both been working from home. And so kind of switching off who's watching August and who's working. So it's definitely has its challenges. I'm currently joining you from a closet. So, you know, we're all just doing what we can. But in general, you know, we we've been healthy. We stay in staying active. And so I can't complain too much.

Tom Kelly: Well, then I won't ask you what the view is like from the closet.

Sara Studebaker-Hall: No.

Tom Kelly: It it it is a pretty amazing place, though, isn't it? Just a great spirit of sport down there and a beautiful mountain setting.

Sara Studebaker-Hall: Oh, absolutely. You know, we when we moved to Heber, our experience there had really been as athletes and and we hadn't had a lot of experiences recently. So, you know, we moved there three years ago and saw the venue really starting to come alive with the planned return of the World Cup in it to Soldier Hollow. And it's been a really exciting time to be there. And the community has been really welcoming. And, you know, we love. I love being back in the Mountain West. So that's definitely exciting for me. And, yeah, it's it's been it's been really great.

Tom Kelly: Now, Sara, I know that when you took on this new role as director of operations from for U.S. Biathlon, you probably had these grand ideas and the things that you were going to do on day one to put things in motion. But the pandemic really changed your role when you started in February, didn't it?

Sara Studebaker-Hall: It really did. Yeah, I think I was at work for about two weeks when things really started to get shut down. And, you know, in some ways I was lucky. I was already working from home. My position is remote. So I'm still based in Heber in Utah, where the headquarters are back in Maine. So it gives us some geographic diversity with an organization, which I think is a really positive, but it's definitely suddenly became a very different situation for all of us within the organization....

Next Episode

Max Cobb: Leading U.S. Biathlon into the Future

Max Cobb found his way into biathlon while a collegiate skier at Dartmouth. Today, he's piloting U.S. Biathlon into the future as a well-recognized Olympic and international sport leader. Known widely as his support of athletes, Max talks about his own past and traces the growth of biathlon as a sport in America. He rekindles memories talking about past medals but also takes a look at the future of U.S. Biathlon.