Four More Years of Prep Have Josh Sweeney Firing Hot Going into Milano Cortina

Josh Sweeney was feeling worn out in late January as he prepared to wrap up the Para Nordic skiing world cup season with another series of races in Jakuszyce, Poland. 

Sweeney had already competed in back-to-back world cup events in Germany and Poland, and his first race at the season finale in Jakuszyce — the men’s sit skiing 1-kilometer sprint — was his seventh race in three weeks. And he still had a few more races to do before he could get some rest. 

“In the (sprint) finals, I was like, ‘I’m gassed. I’m tired. I don’t know how I’m going to do,’” said Sweeney, a retired U.S. Marine Corps scout sniper from Boise, Idaho. “But ultimately, I made the finals, and I was going to throw down no matter what.” 

Sweeney hung with the other skiers during the race and then made his move on a sharp turn right before the final sprint up a hill to the finish line. He got around the pack, powered his way down the stretch and won the 1K sprint in 2 minutes, 50.24 seconds. 

It was Sweeney’s first time winning a gold medal at a world cup, and it showed him that he doesn’t need to be at full strength to perform well in a race. It also gave him the confidence to believe that he could medal at the Milano Cortina 2026 Paralympic Winter Games — his third Winter Paralympics overall and second as a Nordic skier. 

He won a gold medal as a member of the U.S. men’s sled hockey team at the 2014 Winter Paralympics in Sochi, Russia. 

“I feel like having won that (sprint) really does help me to feel like, ‘All right, I belong here. I’m ready,’” Sweeney said. “And I still have work to do. It doesn’t mean I’m relaxing, but it means that I’m focused and excited.” 

Tired as he was, Sweeney also won a silver and a bronze in a pair of 10k races in Jakuszyce. The world cup served as a final tune-up for him before he was scheduled to leave in late February to take part in a Team USA training camp in Italy prior to the start of the Milano Cortina Paralympic Winter Games. 

Sweeney planned to spend more than a week at the training camp getting acclimated to the time change, practicing his rifle shooting for the biathlon and doing some last-minute preparations for Milano Cortina. He expects to compete in at least six events at the Winter Paralympics, including all three biathlon races. 

“I’m actually really excited. I’m so excited for these Games it’s borderline nervous because I feel like I’m doing really well and I’m enjoying it and I want to keep doing well,” Sweeney said. “But obviously, you just have to go out and perform and perform at your best and do what you’ve been doing.” 

Sweeney said he feels much different heading into Milano Cortina than his previous two trips to the Winter Paralympics. As a member of the U.S. sled hockey team in Sochi, he was brand new to the Paralympic world and had his teammates to rely on for support. 

Sweeney eventually made the transition from sled hockey to sit skiing, but as a newcomer to the sport, he headed to the 2022 Beijing Winter Paralympics knowing that he didn’t have much of a chance to medal in cross-country skiing. 

That’s not the case this time, though. 

Sweeney feels confident and believes he has a shot at making the medal podium at Milano Cortina, if not perhaps winning a gold. He said his skiing ability is the area that has improved the most for him over the past four years. 

As a former Marine sniper, Sweeney was naturally drawn to biathlon. But as much as he wanted to compete in that sport early in his skiing career, he never felt he was a fast enough skier. In Beijing, he stuck only to the cross-country skiing events. 

Sweeney earned a pair of top 20 finishes in Beijing, with his best finish coming when he placed 16th in the men’s sit sitting 18k race. 

“So now having the ability to ski fast enough to make the shooting worthwhile, I can do biathlon and I can be competitive. I’ve made huge jumps in skiing,” Sweeney said. “… Realizing that my ski speed is there, it does help me in the biathlon races to focus on shooting and doing my range process because I understand that I’m good. I need to focus on shooting, and then I’m good when I leave the range because I know I can ski fast now.” 

Sweeney credits fellow Team USA sit skiers Aaron Pike and Dan Cnossen for helping him to get to this point in his career. He said Pike and Cnossen, who’ll be competing in their eighth and fourth Paralympics, respectively, have given him plenty of guidance over the years. 

All three sit skiers also root for each other, even though they’re often competing in the same races. 

A few years ago, when Sweeney was preparing to compete in his first-ever world cup in Soldier Hollow, Utah, Pike made it a point to speak to him about ways to maneuver the challenging course. Sweeney was still learning how to maneuver in his sit ski, and Pike told him how he’d approach it while racing. 

Cnossen, a seven-time Paralympic medalist, also shared lots of tips when Sweeney was still new to the sport. Cnossen spoke to him about everything from his ski technique and the length of his ski polls to his mindset when he’s approaching an uphill climb during a race. 

“There’s so much insider information, if you will, that those guys have based on the amount of years that they’ve been doing this sport that if I wouldn’t have gotten it, I’d still be trying to figure this stuff out,” Sweeney said. “Or I might have figured it out by now, but I wouldn’t have been able to get to where I am as quickly.” 

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.