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U.S. biathlete Sabasteanski took long, winding road
She never shot a firearm until college years
By Donna Kemp Spangler
Deseret News staff writer
MIDWAY — U.S. biathlete Kristina Viljanen Sabasteanski wasn't exactly born with silver skis on her feet.
She never even owned a pair of cross country skis until high school when her older brother Patrick won them in a raffle at the local McDonald's. At Castleton State College in Vermont, she had to borrow a .22-caliber rifle from a friend, practicing her shooting in a cow pasture.
"I had never even picked up a firearm," Sabasteanski said. But surprising herself and others, she was good enough to qualify for the World University Games in Bulgaria.
"People told me I was a regular Annie Oakley," she recalled.
Despite her Scandinavian roots (her father was Finnish), the two-time Olympian from New Hampshire stumbled into the obscure sport of biathlon that combines cross country skiing with rifle marksmanship relatively late in life. She spent her college savings on a $900 rifle and survived setbacks like the time she broke her kneecap, slipping on the floor during a water fight in the dorm, taking her two years to fully recover.
"I wasn't an exceptional skier," she said. "But I started to improve."
Her college coach Tom Heffernan believed Sabasteanski had what it takes to be an Olympian. And after she achieved a few top-10 finishes in national competitions, she began believing it, too.
In biathlon, shooting skills and endurance are not enough. Top biathletes must be able to slow their breathing and heart rate and sharpen their concentration, an ability Sabasteanski had developed over time.
But it wasn't always easy.
At 22, she moved to Lake Placid to train under former Canadian coach Tracy Lamb, working as a waitress at the Thirsty Moose Cafe, saving money to compete in the 1994 Olympic trials in Alaska.
There, she ran into some bad luck. She had to hitchhike to the competitions, catching a cold. Then her wallet was stolen.
"I was thinking nobody should have to start like this," she recalled. In the end, she missed the team by just one shot. "But I didn't give up," she added.
She moved to Vermont, where she joined the National Guard and became part of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program, which pays for her training. A year later she made the U.S. Biathlon Team. She headed into the 1998 Olympic trials more confident than ever.
Then the unpredictable happened. During a windy 15-kilometer race, she missed all five targets. The next two races weren't much better. It didn't look good.
"People were giving me condolences," she recalled. But she told herself what she needed to do to earn a spot on the team: ski fast and shoot perfect. She did both.
It seemed like a fairy tale, she said. "It was the most perfect race."
At the 1998 Olympic Games in Nagano, Sabasteanski achieved the best American results in biathlon, placing 33rd, about the middle of the pack, in a sprint race.
She decided to train for the 2002 Winter Games after perfect shooting in a national competition on her 20th birthday. "It was a sign," she said.
In October 2000, she and her husband, Matt, the sport events biathlon manager, moved to Midway to train near Soldier Hollow, the Olympic venue for cross country skiing, biathlon and Nordic-combined. But dismal results in international competitions snuffed her out of World Cup team competitions.
Her determination to succeed once again earned her spot on the U.S. Olympic Team, where she has been training under the eye of national coach Algis Shalna, 1984 gold medalist. After a series of highly competitive races, she was one of four women and four men to make the 2002 Winter Games.
Her goal now is to have better results than in Nagano.
For Sabasteanski, testing the limits of the mind and body is what the Olympics is all about. That's why she loves biathlon.
"You never know if you will hit all the targets. And when you do, it's so exciting," she said. "It's like nothing you can really compare it to."
E-MAIL: donna@desnews.com
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February 11, 2002
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