Sean Doherty Qualifies for Fourth Olympics in Milano-Cortina

Sean Doherty (Conway, NH/Army World Class Athlete Program) will compete at his fourth Olympic Winter Games in Milano-Cortina. The discretionary selection was announced by the U.S. Biathlon International Competition Committee (ICC) following the conclusion of the U.S. Biathlon-run timed trials in Antholz, ITA. 

“Sean has been a key member of the U.S. Biathlon Team for a long time,” said U.S. Biathlon High Performance Director Lowell Bailey. “Both individually and on relay teams, Sean has continuously proven he can compete with the best in the world!”

Doherty, 30, brings unmatched international experience to the 2026 Olympic squad and stands as the most decorated junior biathlete in U.S. biathlon history with 10 medals. At the 2013 Junior World Championships, where he captured one gold and two silver medals, he became the first U.S. biathlete to triple podium at a World Championship. Since making his World Cup debut in 2013, Doherty has become a nine-time World Championship team member and three-time Olympian (2014, 2018, 2022). He was the youngest athlete on the 2014 U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team at just 18 years old, finishing 16th in the relay. At the 2018 PyeongChang Games, he placed 65th in the sprint, 44th in the individual, and sixth in the relay. Most recently, at the 2022 Beijing Winter Games, he helped the U.S. to a seventh-place finish in the mixed relay alongside Susan Dunklee, Clare Egan, and Paul Schommer, while also finishing 42nd in the individual, 47th in the sprint, 43rd in the pursuit, and 13th in the relay with Jake Brown, Leif Nordgren, and Paul Schommer.

“I am very proud to represent the USA at the Games,” said Doherty. “I would like to thank my family, the team and the Army WCAP for all their support and I'm excited to race in February!” 

Doherty added, “To quote President Theodore Roosevelt’s “The Man in the Arena” passage, ‘It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows the great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.’.”

Doherty joins Campbell Wright (Wanaka, NZL/Waiorau Nordic Skiing), Deedra Irwin (Pulaski, WI/Army World Class Athlete Program), Margie Freed (Apple Valley, MN/Craftsbury Green Racing Project), Maxime Germain (Chamonix-Mont Blanc, FRA/National Guard Biathlon), Lucinda Anderson (Golden Valley, MN/Team Birkie), Paul Schommer (Appleton, WI/Team Birkie/Ariens Nordic Center), and Joanne Reid (Grand Junction, CO/Colorado Biathlon Club) to round out the 2026 Olympic Biathlon Team. 

All selections to the 2026 U.S. Olympic Team are subject to approval by the United States Olympic & Paralympic Committee.