While there’s no snow on the ground, these camps are pretty important for the athletes, especially with the Olympics on the horizon.

“All of our camps are a big deal, and this camp is no different for sure,” U.S. Biathlon Director of Athlete Development Tim Burke said on Thursday.

Throughout this week, the biathletes used Mount Van Hoevenberg for its range and rollerski course. They also used the Olympic and Paralympic Training Center for its resources for strength training, testing, recovery, nutrition and sports medicine.

After hosting a camp in Bend, Oregon, last month, Burke said this camp was more focused on shooting rather than constant physical training.

U.S. biathlete Deedra Irwin gets ready to take another shot from the standing position during Thursday’s U.S. Biathlon National Team camp in Lake Placid. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

“So the athletes are out here typically for an hour or two in the morning doing their shooting training,” he said. “Then they’re off to do something different for their physical training.”

But just because they’re more focused on shooting, it doesn’t make it any easier for the athletes. While taking a lap around the track, before shooting at the range, Thursday, there happened to be a bit of wind.

“(That) makes the shooting pretty challenging,” Burke said. “Also, as we get towards the end of the camp and the athletes are getting more and more fatigued from all the physical training we’re doing, it makes it hard to concentrate on shooting as well.”

Burke said the athletes enjoy being in Lake Placid — U.S. Biathlon’s national team training base — and some even live and train here full-time.

“There’s so many great training opportunities (here),” he said. “It’s not just about the shooting range here in Mount Van Hoevenberg, but it’s about everything else that we can do here in the area. Whether that’s going out for long road bike rides through Keene and through Jay and all the great areas around there. Also, the ability to go for a run in the mountains here. You really have it all as an endurance athlete, and that’s what makes this place pretty special.”

U.S. National Team biathlete Paul Schommer roller skis a lap around the Mount Van Hoevenberg biathlon track on Thursday in Lake Placid. Also pictured is Campbell Wright. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

With the next Olympic Winter Games less than 240 days away — in Milano-Cortina, Italy — there’s a bit of excitement looming. Burke, a four-time Olympian who grew up in Paul Smiths, knows that exact feeling with those Games looming, along with the added sense that there’s more on the line.

“But we see that as a good thing because the athletes, they’re always motivated. But in an Olympic year, they’re especially motivated,” he said.

Right now, the athletes and even the allocated quota spots are still up in the air, but Burke says the goal is pretty clear: They want to win the first-ever Olympic medal for a U.S. biathlete.

“We have a lot of great athletes that have a chance at doing that,” he said. “So us coaches and staff are just trying to do our best to support them, to put them on the start line in ’26, ready to give their best.”

The men’s national team includes: Campbell Wright of Wanaka, New Zealand; Jake Brown of St. Paul, Minnesota; Maxime Germain of Chamonix-Mont Blanc, France; Paul Schommer of Appleton, Wisconsin; Vincent Bonacci of Salt Lake City, Utah; Vaclav Cervenka of Grand Rapids, Minnesota; Sean Doherty of Center Conway, New Hampshire; and Bjorn Westervelt of Stowe, Vermont.

U.S. National Team biathlete Kelsey Dickinson shoots from the prone position during Thursday’s U.S. Biathlon National Team camp in Lake Placid. Also pictured is Chloe Levins. (Enterprise photo — Parker O’Brien)

The women’s squad includes: Deedra Irwin of Pulaski, Wisconsin; Lucinda Anderson of Golden Valley, Minnesota; Grace Castonguay of Jackson, New Hampshire; Kelsey Dickinson of Winthrop, Washington; Margie Freed of Apple Valley, Minnesota; and Chloe Levins of Williston, Vermont.

During the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, China, the U.S. sent eight biathletes — four men and four women. Only four members from that Olympic team are still competing on this year’s national squad, including just Irwin from the women’s side.

“After the last Olympics, we had our two big female starters with Clare Egan and Susan Dunklee retiring, both World Cup podium-level athletes,” Burke said. “So it’s been rebuilding since then, but Deedra Irwin has led the way and we have a good group of development athletes coming up last year. We saw Luci Anderson, for example, her first year of the World Cup, her first year doing biathlon, coming from Nordic skiing and already posting some fantastic results. So we look forward to seeing what they can do with another year of training under their belt.”

The men’s side includes some solid young biathletes, who are finally emerging from the development program. Among those include Wright, who won back-to-back silver medals at the World Biathlon Championships in February in Lenzerheide, Switzerland, in the men’s 10K sprint and the 12.5K pursuit — he became the fifth American ever to medal at the World Championships.

“Those athletes all proved themselves on the junior circuit, and last year we really saw them breaking through on the senior level, highlighted with Campbell’s two medals at the World Championships,” Burke said. “So to have those results going into an Olympic season is great for the whole team because it’s not only great for Campbell, but it’s for the rest of the team that’s training with him day in and day out. They train with him, they know that if he can do it, then they can do it as well. So it’s really a strong motivator for the team.”

The U.S. Biathlon team will hold another camp here in August.