U.S. Biathlon Women's Coaching Initiative

Annelies has been a part of U.S. Biathlon since 2001. First as a part of the development and junior team, then the World Cup and World Championships team, competing for Team USA at the 2014 Sochi Olympic Winter Games. After retiring from racing in 2016, Annelies worked for U.S. Biathlon as a part-time IBU Cup wax technician from 2017-2021, for the U.S. Paralympic Team as a guest assistant coach in 2017, 2018, 2019, and 2021, and most recently as a U.S. Biathlon assistant coach from 2021 until now. Outside of competing in biathlon, Annelies founded GO GIRLS, a Female Youth Programming in her hometown of Saranac Lake, New York. She currently resides in Germany, where she has also been a Biathlon Oberland Schuler coach since 2017.

Annika was a competitive cross-country skier from 2011-2020 before transitioning into coaching. Following her graduation from Colby College, she joined U.S. Biathlon as a coaching intern, where she assisted and facilitated biathlon National Team Camp practices at Craftsbury Outdoor Center, often as the primary coach and built out youth program development and coach education framework. Since then, Annika has been the Cross Country Ski Coach at Ford Sayre Memorial Ski Council, Head Coach Summer Training Group at Berkshire Nordic Ski Club, Stratton Mountain School T2 Team Assistant Coach and Assistant Coach of Men’s and Women’s Ski Team at Williams College. Annika also had the opportunity to be a Trail to Gold Fellow with US Ski and Snowboard and travel as a coach and wax technician. In 2022, she attended the Cross Country World Cups in Beitostolen, Norway and Davos, Switzerland, and in 2023, she attended the Cross Country World Cups in Gallivare and Ostersund, Sweden.

Clare competed for U.S. Biathlon’s National Team from 2017-2022, retiring as a 2x Olympian, 5x National Champion, 6x World Championships team member and World Cup bronze medalist. Since 2018, Clare has been actively engaged in international sport, first on the International Biathlon Union (IBU) Executive Board, then as Athletes’ Committee Chair. Since retiring in 2022, she has worked on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) Athletes Council and was the on-site athlete ambassador and anti-doping educator at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games in Gangwon, Korea, as well as a freelance international sport organization and event consultant. Fun fact: Clare is fluent in English, Italian, French and Spanish, with intermediate knowledge of Russian and German and elementary-level knowledge of Korean!

Kate has a long history as a member of the Nordic community, having raced for St. Lawrence University’s Nordic Ski Team where she was named Team Captain in her junior and senior years. While she was pursuing a career in law, Kate remained actively engaged in the cross-country ski world. Since 2015, Kate has coached with Mansfield Nordic Club in Jericho, Vermont and Auburn Ski Club in Soda Springs, California. Additionally, she was the head coach at the National Team Training Centre in Victoria, Australia in 2022 and was on the Women Ski Coaches Association Board from 2021-2023. Most recently, Kate has balanced her time as an Associate Attorney and volunteered with U.S. Biathlon at both domestic and international competitions, including the World University Games, IBU Cup, World Cup, Youth & Junior World Championships and Junior Open European Championships.  

Maddie raced for U.S. Biathlon from 2017-2021, during which time she was a 2018 Olympian and competed at the 2017 World Championships. During her time as an athlete, Maddie was a part of launching Girls with Guns and was selected to represent Protect our Winters (POW) Rider’s Alliance. Following her retirement from racing, Maddie was named as the New York Ski Education Foundation (NYSEF) head biathlon coach and assistant Nordic coach. In 2022, Maddie received her U.S. Biathlon Official’s License and USSA L100 Coach Certificate. In 2023, she received her International Biathlon Union (IBU) International Referee License, and in 2024, she completed the IBU Academy First Level Course. In addition to coaching with NYSEF, Maddie was also selected for U.S. Biathlon’s Coaching Fellowship in 2023, spending two weeks in Europe on the IBU Cup, and had the opportunity to travel back to the 2018 biathlon Olympic venue in PyeongChang to coach Team USA at the 2024 Youth Olympic Games. 

Naomi comes from the Nordic ski community with 7+ years of experience including assistant coach and wax technician for the Alaska Pacific University Nordic Ski Center, head coach of the South Anchorage High School Nordic Ski Team and, most recently, assistant coach for the Alaska Winter Stars. She is USSS L100 Certified, having traveled as a coach for U18 NEG, Team Alaska and Alaska Pacific University’s Wax Tech team. Naomi was a U.S. Ski & Snowboard Trail to Gold Fellow for the 2022/23 season, where she traveled to Ruka, Finland and Lillehammer, Norway with the U.S. Nordic Ski Team.

Susan raced for U.S. Biathlon on the National Team from 2008-2022, ending her career as the most decorated U.S. biathlete in history. She is a 3x Olympian and 8x World Championship team member with 2 World Championship silver medals and 5 World Cup medals. During her time as an athlete, Susan organized Women’s “Mini Camps” to bring National Team and top senior and junior women together for training, learning & team building. She also created Girls with Guns beginner clinics together with National Team teammates and put on events in 3 different states. Following her retirement as an athlete, Susan was hired as Craftsbury Outdoor Center’s Running Camp Director and Director of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) Run Team. She has since taken on a different set of jobs as Craftsbrury’s Biathlon Director, Craftsbury Ski Club coach, Race Organizer, Biathlon Camp Organizer, Girls on the Run coach and mountain bike coach.

Sydney competed as a Nordic skier in both high school and college through the University of New Hampshire’s club Nordic program. After graduating from UNH, Sydney learned about the sport of biathlon in 2019 at Craftsbury Outdoor Center, where, at the time, she was training and competing as a rower. After becoming involved in biathlon, she worked as a Nordic ski instructor at Crosscut and with BSF in Bozeman, Montana. In 2021, she competed at U.S. Biathlon Nationals in West Yellowstone, Montana, where she placed fifth. That same year, Sydney began working as coach of the Elite Biathlon Team at Crosscut Mountain Sports Center, where she also works with masters and youth programs throughout the year. Sydney also coached on the IBU Cup during the 2022/23 season, at the West Regional Select Camp last summer and traveled to Vuokatti, Finland in November 2023 to coach at U.S. Biathlon’s on-snow training camp, continuing on to Kontiolahti, Finland for IBU Cup 1. Fun fact: Sydney has her Masters of Science in Mechanical-Aerospace Engineering!