Ready To Take His Shot, Former Marine Scout Sniper Josh Sweeney Turns Focus From Cross-Country Skiing To Biathlon For 2026

Josh Sweeney never had any trouble shooting targets as a kid, and his aim was so good that he eventually became a scout sniper with the U.S. Marine Corps.

Considering how proficient he was with a rifle, Sweeney admitted he was excited to try the biathlon as soon as he started competing as a Para Nordic skier. Things, however, didn’t go as smoothly as he expected once he tried combining cross-country skiing with rifle shooting.

“What I found was I wasn’t strong enough to be able to actually do biathlon because my skiing wasn’t fast enough,” Sweeney, 38, said. “So, when I would come into the range, I would be too out of breath, too gassed to be able to even function as a shooter.”

Sweeney told his coaches that he didn’t want to start competing in biathlon until he believed he was ready, and that time has finally arrived for the retired Marine sergeant from Nampa, Idaho.

Sweeney said he developed into a strong enough sit skier this past season to come into the range feeling good and able to consistently hit targets during a biathlon race. The biathlon has become his main focus as he continues training for the Paralympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026. And earlier this month, he took the next step on that journey by being named to the U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing development team.

“I love being on Team USA,” said Sweeney, already a two-time Paralympian, “and so whether it’s development team or national team, I’m super pumped (and) excited to be able to wear the red, white and blue and continue to compete for Team USA in any capacity.”

Sweeney won a gold medal with the U.S. sled hockey team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi. He then raced in three cross-country skiing events in 2022 in Beijing, with his best finish coming when he placed 16th in the men’s sit skiing 18-kilometer race.

Thanks to his development in the biathlon, Sweeney said he likely won’t compete in any cross-country skiing races at Milano Cortina next March if he qualifies in the biathlon.

“This year I’m really excited to actually now be in a position where I think I might do better in biathlon than I would do in cross-country just based on kind of everything I’m feeling,” Sweeney said. “So, that’s kind of what I’ve been focusing on lately, is just being able to come into the range, have a set process that I can get into position, shoot accurately, quickly, get up and already be on my way out and hopefully not have to do any penalty laps.”

Sweeney qualified for the IBU Para Biathlon World Cup Finals in Torsby, Sweden, this past season, but he was unable to compete in it after coming down with the flu. He also missed other events with U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing because he was busy with his job.

Even though he was continuing to train on his own, Sweeney said he appreciated getting to spend several days in May at a training camp that U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing hosts every offseason in Bend, Oregon.

While at the training camp, Sweeney worked with Susan Dunklee, a three-time U.S. Olympian in the biathlon . Dunklee has served as a coach with U.S. Paralympics Nordic Skiing on several occasions since retiring from competition following the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics.

“We had a couple of awesome biathlon coaches that came in to work with us on shooting and the process and developing the process more and things that we can focus on to get faster or just be consistent,” Sweeney said. “I thought that was just such a cool opportunity for myself and the rest of the team to be able to do that as a unit and then play some fun, competitive games at the same time.”

Sweeney said he’s doing a lot more training this offseason than he typically would as he prepares for Milano Cortina. He signed up to compete in several triathlons, including Leon’s Triathlon, an annual event in Hammond, Indiana, that honors U.S. servicemen and women — especially injured veterans like Sweeney.

Sweeney finished first in the triathlon’s Para Development Series category on June 1, completing the race in 1 hour, 5.56 minutes. He performed well enough to qualify for the USA Triathlon Sprint and Olympic Distance National Championships in August in Milwaukee.

On July 26, only two weeks before he competes at nationals, Sweeney will push his body to its limits while taking part in the IRONMAN 70.3 Boise, a 70.3-mile triathlon that ends in downtown Boise, Idaho.

“Really my thought process behind that was changing it up, getting excited to do some different sports that will keep me in peak physical conditioning, if not better physical conditioning than I had been during the season,” Sweeney said, “and just kind of keep pushing that conditioning aspect, so that when I get into the next season, it’ll just be specificity of getting back on snow and really getting ready to race right away.”

Sweeney said all three sports that make up a triathlon translate well to sit skiing, which requires a strong upper body. In particular, swimming helps to develop a lot of the same muscles that he uses while skiing. And as with the biathlon, he enjoys a good challenge.

“I just love competing, whether it’s against other people or myself, and doing challenges that I don’t know if I can actually accomplish,” Sweeney said.

Alex Abrams has written about Olympic and Paralympic sports for more than 15 years, including as a reporter for major newspapers in Florida, Arkansas and Oklahoma. He is a freelance contributor to USParaNordic.org on behalf of Red Line Editorial, Inc.