GREEN BAY — Just a few weeks after competing in Italy, NBC 26 caught up with Appleton native and Olympic biathlete Paul Schommer, who is coming off the best finish of his career and now entering the final month of his athletic career
“It's a pretty iconic venue for us. The fans and the crowds were amazing. For me, I felt like my performances, I was really happy about. I was really happy with the shooting,” Schommer said of his time at the Olympics.
Watch Schommer talk about his journey and what's next!
The U.S. men's biathlon relay team had its best-ever finish at the Olympics.
Schommer says while competing, you often don't have time to soak in the moment, but this one became too big to ignore.
“Just like the atmosphere and like you're in the mountains and the snow is coming down. Everyone's just stoked on biathlon, and I think that was, that was a really cool moment,” he said.
They rallied to fifth place, surpassing their previous best finishes of sixth in 1972 and 2018.
Schommer says a new standard has been set, and it's only a matter of time before Team U.S.A. makes history and takes home some hardware.
“I know the energy and the focus is there, and so, I'm excited for the future for them because I know that medal is coming soon. We just gotta keep doing the same things and good things will, will come,” he said.
Schommer has three World Cup events left this month, and then his career is over.
He plans to retire after his last event at Soldier Hollow in Utah.
“It just feels right to finish in the U.S. with U.S. Nationals, where the community that's given me so much kind of comes together in the spring. Yeah, I'm looking forward to it,” Schommer said.
After that last event is over, Schommer says he's adopting a puppy and will be traveling for a bit, but later this year, he will return to Wisconsin and work with the Ariens Nordic Center to help grow the sport.
“I see a real opportunity with Ariens Nordic Center right now to bring back some of those things that I've learned to the area. Who knows, maybe there's some kid in the Fox Valley right now who doesn't know it yet, but he's gonna, he or she is gonna get into cross-country skiing or biathlon. It might be the person who gets the first, the first medal in biathlon,” he said.
