Chat with Olympian Campbell Wright for a couple minutes and his calm, cool and collected aura fills the air. For the biathlete, his happiness is simple. “Do something you enjoy and I enjoy biathlon,” Wright said. He’s doing just that and proving he’s pretty good at it along the way.

The 23-year-old dual citizen joined Team USA two years ago after competing for New Zealand at the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics. Now, Wright is set to represent the U.S. at the 2026 Milan Cortina Games.

I’m the definition of the American dream.

This storyline and chain of events was very close to being one of fiction for Wright. The laidback New Zealander wanted a change after Beijing but struggled in writing his next chapter. Wright said he needed a new coach; a new training group and he didn’t have much money. The answer he thought at the time: hang up his skis. “I’ve done the Olympics, and I’m pretty good, I know I’m talented. I’m young, it’s a bit of a shame that I’m leaving the sport,” Wright recalled. Then he said the high-performance director for U.S. biathlon reached out right when he was trying to make a final career decision. And so, his story continued.

“It’s just been absolutely awesome ever since, best thing to ever happen to me was joining America,” Wright said. He joined the team for a trial year from 2022-2023 in which he trained and traveled with Team USA but still competed for New Zealand. The TLDR: he loved it. “After one year of being on the team, I was just like 'this is awesome.' This is probably the best year I’ve ever had…race wise but just enjoying my life wise,” Wright said.

He officially started racing for the U.S. the following season and the real-life fairytale continued. Wright said he grew up with a U.S. passport and traveled to see family twice in the States as a kid. His first trip was to Disneyland, the second to Universal Studios and his third trip was to officially join Team USA.

I think the U.S. is the melting pot of the world and I’m part of that, so it’s pretty, pretty cool.

This year, the Olympian won two silver medals at the Biathlon World Championships in Lenzerheide, Switzerland. “That was just the best two races I’ve ever done in my life back-to-back, so I did it at the right time I guess you could say,” Wright said. 

Wright also became the first American to earn the U23 globe in the Biathlon World Cup. The trophy is given to the top under 23 male biathlete in the world. As the Olympian continues to help put the U.S. biathlon team on the map, the ever-humble Kiwi doesn’t exactly see his accomplishments as historic. “I’m still the young guy. I still have the role models of the older guys on the team…we all work hard together…If I can help the team be better, that’s awesome,” Wright said.

In just over seven months, Wright will suit up in the stars and stripes on the world’s biggest stage for the first time at the Milan Cortina Olympic Games. Admittedly, he still sees himself as a New Zealander, but says he’ll take pride in representing the U.S. 

It’s pretty sweet. Team USA definitely has the sparkle factor.

While Wright’s transition to Team USA appears to be seamless, his evolution into the sport of biathlon was far from it. At age 10, he started cross-country skiing in New Zealand and then raced successfully in Canada. However, when he was 16 years old, he transitioned to become a biathlete out of necessity. “I’m happy I didn’t delay that, and I jumped ship as soon as I realized it was the only way for me to race in Europe,” Wright said.

He believed adding rifle shooting to his cross-country skiing repertoire was the only way for him to fully join a training group in Europe. As a biathlete, he now could compete at a higher level and gain regular access to snow. On the flip side, developing the new skill set was far from easy. “Biathlon sucks the first 2-3 years learning to shoot because you just miss a bunch and I could ski well but when you miss a bunch, it’s a learning curve,” Wright said.  

Luckily, he was able to use his superior skiing ability to his advantage. He realized he didn’t have to shoot lights out but just had to hit enough targets to be competitive. “I had to hit eight out of ten and I could do [well]. So that’s a lot more achievable than shooting like I do now,” Wright said. Despite now saying his racing and rifle abilities are equal, he still thinks his coach’s analogy to explain the difficulty of shooting in biathlon is right on target: “It’s like threading a needle in a thunderstorm or a hurricane,” Wright recalled.

Now, Wright is laser focused on his training for the Winter Games. Though the U.S. never has earned an Olympic medal in biathlon, “it’s possible,” said Wright. "I don’t know if I’ll do it, it’s pretty hard to do." However, there’s one event in particular he’s really looking forward to competiting in and encourages everyone to watch: “We got a bloody good men’s relay…I’m really looking forward to being a part of that team,” Wright said.

As Wright’s story continues to evolve and unfold, there is one target that remains the same for this upcoming Olympics.

My goal is to have fun and enjoy myself, so I think if I keep doing that, what more can I want?.