Campbell McRae Wright (born 25 May 2002) is a New Zealand and American

biathlete The biathlon is a winter sport that combines cross-country skiing and rifle shooting. It is treated as a race, with contestants skiing through a cross-country trail whose distance is divided into shooting rounds. The shooting rounds are not ti ...

. He made his

Biathlon World Cup The Biathlon World Cup is a top-level biathlon season-long competition series. It has been held since the winter seasons of 1977–78 for men and 1982–83 for women. The women's seasons until 1986–87 season were called the European Cup, alt ...

debut in 2021 and represented

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. In 2023, he became the first New Zealander and Southern Hemisphere athlete to win a medal in biathlon, after winning the 10 km sprint at the 2023 Junior World Championships. In 2025, he became the most decorated American biathelete in a single World Championship, after winning two silver medals in the

Sprint Sprint may refer to: Aerospace * Spring WS202 Sprint, a Canadian aircraft design *Sprint (missile), an anti-ballistic missile Automobiles *Alfa Romeo Sprint, automobile produced by Alfa Romeo between 1976 and 1989 *Chevrolet Sprint, a rebadged v ...

and Pursuit in the 2025 Biathlon World Championships in

Lenzerheide Lenzerheide ( Romansh: ''Lai'') is a mountain resort in the canton of Graubünden, Switzerland at the foot of the Parpaner Rothorn. The village lies in the municipality Vaz/Obervaz in the district of Albula, sub-district Alvaschein. Th ...

Early life

Born in

Rotorua Rotorua () is a city in the Bay of Plenty region of New Zealand's North Island. It is sited on the southern shores of Lake Rotorua, from which it takes its name. It is the seat of the Rotorua Lakes District, a territorial authorities of New Zea ...

on 25 May 2002, Wright is one of four sons of Americans Scott and Alison Wright, who emigrated to New Zealand in 1993. Scott Wright, an

audiologist Audiology (from Latin 'to hear'; and from Greek branch of learning , ''-logia'') is a branch of science that studies hearing, balance, and related disorders. Audiologists treat those with hearing loss and proactively prevent related damage. By ...

, was one of the founders of Bay Audiology New Zealand, and sold his interest in the company in 2009. One of Campbell's brothers is racing cyclist Paul Wright. The family moved to the Wanaka area in 2011. Campbell Wright was educated at Mount Aspiring College.

Career

2016-2021: Early Career

Wright began cross-country skiing at

Snow Farm Snow Farm is a ski area near Wānaka, New Zealand, dedicated to cross-country skiing Cross-country skiing is a form of skiing whereby skiers traverse snow-covered terrain without use of ski lifts or other assistance. Cross-country skiing ...

when he was ten years old and took up biathlon in 2017. During his mid-teens he spent the Northern Hemisphere winters based in Canada, racing in age group and club competitions, and in 2017 he won the 21km race at the Merino Muster. He competed at the Biathlon Youth World Championships in

2019 This was the year in which the first known human case of COVID-19 was documented, preceding COVID-19 pandemic, the pandemic which was declared by the World Health Organization the following year. Up to that point, 2019 had been described as ...

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

and

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

, with a best result of sixth in the sprint biathlon in 2020. He represented

New Zealand at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics New Zealand competed at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics in Lausanne, Switzerland, from 9 to 22 January 2020. They were represented by a team of 20 athletes, who took part in nine sports. The chef de mission was Jesse Teat. The flagbearer at the op ...

, where he was the team's flagbearer at the opening ceremony, finishing fourth in the 7.5 km sprint biathlon and sixth in the 12.5 km individual biathlon events. He also competed in three cross-country skiing events at the Winter Youth Olympics.

2021-2022: Senior Debut

Wright made his senior international debut at the

IBU Cup The IBU Cup in biathlon has been held since the winter seasons of 1982–83 and 1988–89, for women and men, respectively. Until the 2007–08 season this competition was called Biathlon European Cup. It is the second-rank competition in biathlo ...

in January 2021. The following month, he was 75th in the 10 km sprint biathlon at the 2021 Biathlon World Championships. Later that year, in November, he debuted in the

Östersund Östersund (; ) is an Urban areas in Sweden, urban area (Stad (Sweden), city) in Jämtland in northern Sweden. It is the seat of Östersund Municipality and the capital of Jämtland County. Östersund is located at the shores of Sweden's fifth-larg ...

, where he placed 40th in the sprint biathlon, becoming the second teenager in Biathlon World Cup history, after

Ole Einar Bjørndalen Ole Einar Bjørndalen (; born 27 January 1974) is a retired Norwegian professional biathlete and coach, often referred to by the nickname, the "King of Biathlon". With 13 Winter Olympic Games medals, he is second on the list of multiple medali ...

, to score World Cup points. In January 2022, Wright was added to the New Zealand team for the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. He became the second New Zealander to compete in biathlon at a Winter Olympics. In his first event at the Olympics, the 20 km individual, he was the youngest competitor. He finished 32nd in a field of 92 athletes.

2022-2023: Junior World Champion

During the season, Wright was coached by and traveled with the U.S. Biathlon Association. He participated in

2022-23 Biathlon World Cup The symbol , known in Unicode as hyphen-minus, is the form of hyphen most commonly used in digital documents. On most keyboards, it is the only character that resembles a minus sign or a dash, so it is also used for these. The name ''hyphen-min ...

, scoring a career best in the 10 km sprint in the season opening in Kontiolahti. He lated improved on this result when he ranked 20th in the 20 km Individual competition in the 2023 World Championships in Oberhof. He finished the season in the 55th place in the Overall World Cup ranking, collecting 55 points overall. In the 2023 Junior World Championships, he won a gold medal in the 10 km sprint and became the first New Zealander and Southern Hemisphere athlete to win a medal in biathlon. He later finished 6th in the 12.5 km pursuit competition. These results also placed New Zealand at equal third in medal count in the championship, following Germany and Norway.

2023-2024: Representing the United States

On October 23, 2023, The United States Biathlon Association announced the addition of Wright to the US National Biathlon roster. The move was done in collaboration with the New Zealand Biathlon and Olympic association, and was possible due to his double citizenship in New Zealand and the US. Following disappointing results in the first competitions of the season, he again achieved a career best by placing 12th in 10 km sprint in Rupholding, followed by 17th in the 12.5 km pursuit. In addition, he ran the 1st leg for the 4 x 7.5 km men's relay, in which the U.S. team placed 10th, a season best. In Anterselva-Antholz, he participated in his first single mixed relay, alongside

Deedra Irwin Deedra Irwin (born 27 May 1992 in Pulaski, Wisconsin) is an American biathlete. She competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in women's mass start, women's relay, women's pursuit, women's individual, and women's sprint. She finished 7th in the w ...

, and placed 9th. He scored another career best in the 2024 World Championships in Nove Mesto na Morave, where he ranked 11th in the 10 km sprint, 12th in the 12.5 km pursuit, 20th in the 20 km Individual, 7th in the single mixed relay (with Irwin), 5th in the men's relay, and 18th in the 15 km mass start. The following week, he improved on this results when he ranked 8th in the 20 km Individual in Oslo Holmenkollen, and again 7th in the sngle mixed relay. As the season concluded in two

North American North America is a continent in the Northern and Western hemispheres. North America is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea, and to the sou ...

stops, he finished in the flower ceremony for the first time in the World Cup when he ranked 6th in the Sprint in Soldeir Hollow, USA. He was also the 3rd leg for the U.S. team's 4th place in the men's relay, the team's best-ever result. He had a total of 20 Top 20 results throughout the season, including a 13 competition long streak of Top 20 results between January 20, 2024 and March 10, 2024. He had a total of 216 world cup points, and finished 31st in the Overall score.

2024-2025: First Medals, U.S. World Championship Record

In 2025, Wright became the first U.S biathlete to win two medals in a World Championship, when he won back-to-back silver medals in the sprint and pursuit competitions. He was the first American biathlete to win a world championship medal since

Susan Dunklee Susan Dunklee (born February 13, 1986, in Newport, Vermont) is a retired American biathlete. Life and career Dunklee was raised in the town of Barton, Vermont and started skiing at the age of two, first entering cross-country competitions at the ...

in 2020, and first man since

Lowell Bailey Lowell Bailey (born July 15, 1981 in Siler City, North Carolina) is an American biathlon coach and retired biathlete who competed from 2001 until 2018. Career His first World Cup podium was a 2nd place (following a disqualification) in the seco ...

's gold medal in 2017. He finished the season in 17th place in the overall score, with 455 points. In addition, he ranked 13th in the sprint and pursuit score, and won the U23 Blue Bib (best biathlete under 23 years old).

Career results

Olympic Games

''0 medals''

World Championships

''2 medals (2 silver)''

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Wright, Campbell 2002 births Living people Sportspeople from Rotorua American male biathletes New Zealand male biathletes People educated at Mount Aspiring College Biathletes at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics Olympic biathletes for New Zealand Biathletes at the 2022 Winter Olympics 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century New Zealand sportsmen Cross-country skiers at the 2020 Winter Youth Olympics