Kelsey Dickinson: Athlete & Advocate
04/21/25 • 40 min
A veteran of over a decade on the U.S. Biathlon Team, Kelsey Dickinson is still packing her skis and biathlon rifle to the far reaches of the world. Along the way, her legacy is growing as a passionate advocate for her fellow athletes, and a pioneering leader for women in sport. Heartbeat co-hosts Tom Kellly and Sara Donatello spoke with Dickinson during a post-season spring break from her home in Bozeman, Mont., where she spends time while not training in Craftsbury, Vt.
When Heartbeat last caught up with Dickinson in December, 2021, she talked about growing up in Washington’s Methow Valley as a cross country skier, later finding her passion for biathlon at St. Scholastica College in Duluth, Minn. She also spoke about the role women coaches had made in her career – foreshadowing what she’s been up to these last few seasons.
Dickinson has taken her passion for the sport and become one of its most prominent advocates for change. She serves on the U.S. Biathlon board as an athlete representative and also represents her sport on the USOPC Athletes’ Advisory Council. She’s a gender equity athlete ambassador for the IBU, and served on the USOPC’s DEI Core Team leading up to the 2021 Tokyo Games. She has played a vital role with the USOPC Women’s Health Task Force, focusing on health-related issues affecting female athletes. She even served on a Team USA athlete advisory group that examined emerging digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
But amidst all of her giving back to her sport, one of the roles she cherishes most is serving as executive director of the Women Ski Coaches Association, the organization started by her college coach at St. Scholastica, Maria Stuber. What started as an initiative within NCAA programs, is now having an impact on a wide range of sports through programs like GearUp and Trail to Gold.
Why does Dickinson devote so much time and energy with such passion? “Early on, I realized that for me to find meaning in sport, I really wanted to make it a place where my teammates or anyone, who wanted to be coaches could have the best experience possible.”
Dickinson has seen the challenges through the eyes of some amazing female mentors, like Stuber, who have influenced her career.
“I've had some experiences when I was younger that made me realize that, wow, like, sport doesn't necessarily put women and men on an equal level,” she said. “And it's not necessarily that anyone is trying to discriminate against women, but it just sort of exists in the fabric of the culture.”
Dickinson has found a welcoming reception from U.S. Biathlon to the IBU to USOPC. “U.S. Biathlon understands that it to be to be a modern innovative sports organization, bringing in women voices and increasing diversity and is only going to benefit the success of the sport,” she said. “The bottom line – I think what U.S. Biathlon is doing is really important and essential for long term success.”
Beyond equality initiatives, she sees her work benefiting other areas, including overall team culture and creating more coaches in the biathlon community, who can then grow their own junior programs.
“I'm really glad that they're investing in this and taking the time to put their put their weight behind this program succeeding.”
Reflecting back on her career as an athlete and an advocate, Dickinson speaks with confidence and satisfaction – as someone who can now see that the work she’s been doing has been fruitful.
“I've always felt this purpose that – my impact on sport. I would rather be remembered for making sport a better place for women than necessarily my results. That’s always been driving me in this space.”
Sport is fortunate to have an advocate like biathlete Kelsey Dickinson, who is a pioneer for change and not afraid to dive in and do the work. Through her eyes and experiences, this episode of Heartbeat showcases the impact athletes can have on their sports. Listen in as Kelsey Dickinson walks us through the myriad ways she’s having a profound impact on sport.
RESOURCES
Explore these links to learn more and to get engaged in programs.
A veteran of over a decade on the U.S. Biathlon Team, Kelsey Dickinson is still packing her skis and biathlon rifle to the far reaches of the world. Along the way, her legacy is growing as a passionate advocate for her fellow athletes, and a pioneering leader for women in sport. Heartbeat co-hosts Tom Kellly and Sara Donatello spoke with Dickinson during a post-season spring break from her home in Bozeman, Mont., where she spends time while not training in Craftsbury, Vt.
When Heartbeat last caught up with Dickinson in December, 2021, she talked about growing up in Washington’s Methow Valley as a cross country skier, later finding her passion for biathlon at St. Scholastica College in Duluth, Minn. She also spoke about the role women coaches had made in her career – foreshadowing what she’s been up to these last few seasons.
Dickinson has taken her passion for the sport and become one of its most prominent advocates for change. She serves on the U.S. Biathlon board as an athlete representative and also represents her sport on the USOPC Athletes’ Advisory Council. She’s a gender equity athlete ambassador for the IBU, and served on the USOPC’s DEI Core Team leading up to the 2021 Tokyo Games. She has played a vital role with the USOPC Women’s Health Task Force, focusing on health-related issues affecting female athletes. She even served on a Team USA athlete advisory group that examined emerging digital assets, such as non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
But amidst all of her giving back to her sport, one of the roles she cherishes most is serving as executive director of the Women Ski Coaches Association, the organization started by her college coach at St. Scholastica, Maria Stuber. What started as an initiative within NCAA programs, is now having an impact on a wide range of sports through programs like GearUp and Trail to Gold.
Why does Dickinson devote so much time and energy with such passion? “Early on, I realized that for me to find meaning in sport, I really wanted to make it a place where my teammates or anyone, who wanted to be coaches could have the best experience possible.”
Dickinson has seen the challenges through the eyes of some amazing female mentors, like Stuber, who have influenced her career.
“I've had some experiences when I was younger that made me realize that, wow, like, sport doesn't necessarily put women and men on an equal level,” she said. “And it's not necessarily that anyone is trying to discriminate against women, but it just sort of exists in the fabric of the culture.”
Dickinson has found a welcoming reception from U.S. Biathlon to the IBU to USOPC. “U.S. Biathlon understands that it to be to be a modern innovative sports organization, bringing in women voices and increasing diversity and is only going to benefit the success of the sport,” she said. “The bottom line – I think what U.S. Biathlon is doing is really important and essential for long term success.”
Beyond equality initiatives, she sees her work benefiting other areas, including overall team culture and creating more coaches in the biathlon community, who can then grow their own junior programs.
“I'm really glad that they're investing in this and taking the time to put their put their weight behind this program succeeding.”
Reflecting back on her career as an athlete and an advocate, Dickinson speaks with confidence and satisfaction – as someone who can now see that the work she’s been doing has been fruitful.
“I've always felt this purpose that – my impact on sport. I would rather be remembered for making sport a better place for women than necessarily my results. That’s always been driving me in this space.”
Sport is fortunate to have an advocate like biathlete Kelsey Dickinson, who is a pioneer for change and not afraid to dive in and do the work. Through her eyes and experiences, this episode of Heartbeat showcases the impact athletes can have on their sports. Listen in as Kelsey Dickinson walks us through the myriad ways she’s having a profound impact on sport.
RESOURCES
Explore these links to learn more and to get engaged in programs.
Previous Episode
Campbell Wright: Silver Rush
Two weeks after he made history at the BMW IBU World Championships with a pair of silver medals, U.S. biathlete Campbell Wright reflected on his accomplishments. Heartbeat caught up with Campbell relaxing in his hotel room at Nové Město, mentally preparing for the resumption of the BMW IBU World Cup.
“Yeah, that was a pretty cool two weeks,” he said said with a grin!
At the World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, Wright took silver in the sprint then backed it up the next day with silver in the pursuit. It was the first double medal for the U.S. men in history.
Wright talked about how he approached the day just like any other. “I never had any expectations going into any race because that just leads to failure and disappointment,” he said. “And bad things every single time. So, no expectations as always. And, yeah, it's a good way to set yourself up for success.”
In the Heartbeat interview, Wright recapped both races – where he found strengths, and where he found challengers. In the sprint, he shot clean, and had only one miss in four shootings in the pursuit.
In the sprint, he ran well before some of the race favorites, so he had to endure a wait in the finish before he knew the outcome – with the top 15 biathletes in the world starting behind him. But one thing he knew from the start – he was happy with his performance.
“It kind of sunk in when Fillon Maillet crossed the line, and he was behind me,” he said. “That's when I was like, ‘oh yeah, okay. Yeah, you've done well here, Campbell!’”
With the pursuit the next day, there was little time for celebration. It was a surreal experience for Wright starting second. He missed one shot in the first shooting, but was clean the rest of the way. Still, it was a battle to the finish to hold onto the silver medal.
Despite having just joined the U.S. Biathlon Team two years ago, the historic moment was not lost on him. Most of all, he spoke of what it meant for him to be on a list with his childhood heroes, Tim Burke and Lowell Bailey. Burke took silver in 2013 at Nové Město, while Bailey won gold at Hochfilzen in 2017.
“I started watching biathlon or getting to become familiar with biathlon when Tim and Lowell were really in their heyday,” said Wright. “I don't think I'm there career-wise, but on the medal tally it says I am. But in real life, I still don't think I can compare my career to those guys.”
Campbell Wright really opens up in this episode of Heartbeat. He showcases his motivations, philosophies as an athlete, and the vital importance of the support he has had from U.S. Biathlon to help him get there.
Next Episode
Armin Auchentaller: Seeing What's Possible
At every level, the 2024-25 season was marked by positive steps forward for the U.S. Biathlon Team. As the season ended and a new one began with an on-snow camp in Bend, Ore., Head Coach Armin Auchentaller joined Heartbeat from his home in Antholz, characterizing the season as one of seeing what’s possible. But he was quickly pointed out that now it starts all over again. And how do you get even better?
“It always helps to have results because people just stay positive,” said Auchentaller. “There's a good mood. People see that things are possible. But I think, the day after those good results or the season, when the next season training season starts, once you had those good results, I think the best is to come back on the ground and just think of almost like, ‘yeah, how can I get better?’”
In this episode of Heartbeat, Auchentaller speaks to the showcase results of Campbell Wright, winning two silver medals at the World Championships, a career-best for Paul Schommer, and continued development progress by Maxime Germaine, Lucy Anderson and Margie Freed.
One of the keys to that progress has been shooting. “In order to reach good shooting skills, we need to work on the basics a lot, like dividing all the little things, like learning how to trigger, learning how to aim, learning how to breathe, learning how to bolt, learning how to go into position quick, and all of those little things and little things. Then put those things together. Those need to be high quality. It will take a lot of patience. It will take a lot of personal workload in their off times when they are without the team on their own.”
One of the keys to the growing success of development athletes is Olympic shooting champion Matt Emmons, who serves as a coach for U.S. Biathlon. “We try to use his expertise in a way where athletes get access to experience what he had himself and open up a different perspective, under a different light, and give the athletes a lot of theoretical feedback through that and a lot of sharing, experience and a lot of expertise from his shooting career.”
From a 2025 recap to a breakdown of the Bend camp to the vital innovation in the Montana State physiological testing program, Auchentaller covers a lot of ground in this final episode of Heartbeat for the 2025 season.
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