Biathlon-Campbell Wright at the biathlon World Cup: The volcano has broken out

“USA, USA”, two women called in Lenzerheide from the stands when the two-time World Cup silver winner Campbell Wright hurried to the interviews. The sensational man of the world biathlon championship looked irritated, then he waved back briefly. Perhaps it was because he still has to get used to his new “home country”. The 22 -year -old exceptional talent grew up in New Zealand. He was born in Rotorua, a globally known tourist place that is particularly famous for his volcanic activities and geysers.

Wright is now one of the very hot tips in the biathlon circus. Both on Saturday in the sprint and on Sunday in the persecution, he was only beaten by Johannes Thingnes Bø, the Norwegian, who is now the greatest legend of his sport with 22 World Cup titles and will resign after this season. Wright is considered a promising candidate on Bø’s succession – and with its story, this is more than a little miracle.

Biathlon is much more exotic in his home country than is the national sport of Rugby here in Germany. Wright came to a cross-country skiing in Snow Farm, the only cross-country skiing area in New Zealand. There is also a small shooting range there. And so the former Italian biathlete Luca Bormolini, who worked as a coach in New Zealand, brought him to combine cross -country skiing and shooting.

Bormolini recognized the talent of the young man and at the age of 14 brought him to move to Livigno in Italy at times and his wife. Campbell missed his family in distant Europe, but his courage paid off. In 2021 he made his debut in the World Cup, started the second New Zealand biathlete in history a year later at the Olympic Winter Games in Beijing and became a junior world champion in 2023. He was the first athlete from the southern hemisphere to ever win a medal in an international biathlon competition. “He was always the lone fighter, the exotic from New Zealand. He knew that he had a special talent, so at some point he was faced with the question: Can I achieve more with a strong team? ”Says the German sports director Felix Bitterling.

Practically no support from coaches or a medical department, no relay mission-that made Wright to join the US team. His parents are Americans, so his final move to the Sternen banner team was no longer a surprise in 2023. Biathlon is also an outsider sport in the states, but at least there are ambitious plans under the South Tyrolean head coach Armin. You want to win an Olympic medal by 2030.

Thanks to Campbell Wright, this could even succeed four years earlier at the winter games in Milan and Cortina. You already have two World Cup silver medals and the perfect advertising medium for the sport. In Lenzerheide, the telegen shooting star hiked from interview to interview after his second silver run in green outdoor trousers and enjoyed a banana in between. The answers were as cool as the 22-year-old himself. “Holy Shit-I thought, what actually happened here? I can keep up with the really big boys like Bø, «said Wright very carefree. “This is the best I’ve ever done. And we don’t even have half -time at the World Cup. “

For the experts, his rocket -like climb is not so much surprise. Wright has approached the world elite step by step in recent years. Already at the World Cup opening this winter in Finland, he just missed a podium as a sprint fourth. »The two World Cup medals are an outstanding performance, but not a sensation in terms of sport. Campbell Wright shoots very well and can go into the dark red area. He is a real combat pig, «Bitterling analyzes the strengths of the New Zealand.

This is obviously in his family. The four -year -old brother Paul is internationally on the road as a cyclist and had a big influence on Campbell. »With a view to the enormous requirements that you have to face as a cycling professional, he said to me:› Campbell, you are biathlete. You don’t have to work hard. ‘I think he’s right! «So he also has humor, this biathlon volcano from New Zealand.