Ledger, 20, who now attends Montana State, will compete for the United States biathlon team at the upcoming World University Games in Lake Placid.

“It’s going to be awesome to have a big competition like this at home, especially an international competition,” Ledger said.

Ledger said that being at home for the World University Games will bring a bit of pressure, but he also said that growing up in Lake Placid has been huge for his biathlon career.

Ledger graduated from Lake Placid High School in 2020 and he competed for the high school’s Nordic team for a couple of years before moving to the Olympic Training Center to focus on training in biathlon.

Lake Placid’s Van Ledger skis a loop during a 10k skate race at Mount Van Hoevenberg’s Nordic center in Jan. 2021. (Enterprise photo — Lou Reuter)

“There are other places in Vermont and out west where biathlon is pretty big, but it’s not like always sort of front and center where you can see it,” Ledger said. “I think this is one of the places where you don’t have to put in a ton of work to search out for one of the great winter sports.”

Typically when he’s asked about how he got into biathlon, Ledger said he tells people that he started biathlon because he grew up in Lake Placid.

“That’s sort of simplifying it. But it’s kind of what it is,” Ledger said. “Just starting Nordic skiing here and the national team is based out of here, and I would see them skiing around all of the time. Then you would see them with the gun and you’d be like, ‘Wow that looks really cool.’ I started trying it and then I kept going.”

He said first picked up a biathlon rifle at an Eastern development camp.

“I thought it was an introductory camp and it turned out to be more of an intermediate-level camp,” Ledger said. “I remember they handed me a gun and were like, ‘OK, we are dry-firing,’ and I was like, ‘I haven’t even touched this before. I don’t know what I’m doing.’ But it was actually really good because I got to jump right into the fire.”

While Lake Placid was one of the main reasons he started biathlon, Ledger said he doesn’t often compete in the village. He said the last time he competed in Lake Placid was in March 2022 for the U.S. Biathlon Nationals.

Ledger said wasn’t sure if the World University Games to be one of the biggest events he has ever competed in. He said he was excited to compete in an international event.

“The biggest competition I have competed in was the youth Olympics a couple of years ago,” Ledger said. “But since then this is the first international competition that I’ve been in. I’m definitely psyched to get back to that level.”

At the World University Games, Ledger will be joined by five other men’s biathletes competing for Team USA, as well as six women’s biathletes. He said that he has a solid relationship with each of his teammates, especially with Tim Cobb.

“He’s my roommate and we’ve been teammates for years,” Ledger said. “It’s hard to be in a sport like this and not know almost everybody in the sport really well because it’s still pretty small in the U.S. It’s a pretty good working relationship with all the other people on the team which is pretty great.”

The men’s biathlon roster was announced on Jan. 2, just a few days after he competed in the Team USA biathlon trials in Anchorage, Alaska.

“That was mainly to qualify for Junior World Championships and the U.S. has had a really good year this year. We already had three juniors pre-qualify for the team,” Ledger said. “The downside of that was that there was only one spot left to go qualify. That was the most nervous I’ve been for a race since ever going in. It went really well. I won the first two and did well enough on the third day to get that last spot and I was really excited about that.”

The first biathlon competition will take place at the Olympic Sports Complex at Mount Van Hoevenberg on Saturday at 12:15 p.m. with the men’s and women’s individual races. Ledger said he didn’t have a specific goal in mind.

“It would be great for the to be able to race in the mass start,” Ledger said. “Usually, the top 30 race that. I also don’t know what the size of the field is so that will change after the first race.”