Introducing Two New Head Coaches

With the LaVita IBU World Cup Biathlon opener just over a month away, new head coaches Emil Bormetti and Mike Gibson are in Utah’s Soldier Hollow as athletes prepare for the season ahead. In the opening episode of Season 7 of Heartbeat, host Tom Kelly gets with the two coaches as the team begins a new four-year Olympic cycle. They talk about their new roles, the evolution of the national team program, and why the annual fall camp at Soldier Hollow is such an important bridge from summer training to the World Cup season.

Gibson, who grew up skiing and racing biathlon in Vermont, competed with the Green Racing Project at Craftsbury before moving into coaching. His career has included coaching at Craftsbury and extensive experience leading U.S. athletes on the IBU Cup circuit over the past two seasons. He now takes over as head coach of the U.S. women’s team.

Bormetti grew up in Livigno, Italy, and moved into coaching after ending his competitive biathlon career at age 21. He coached athletes from Australia, New Zealand, and Brazil before joining U.S. Biathlon following the 2022 Beijing Olympics. After four years as an assistant coach, he now leads the U.S. men.

While the new structure provides separate head coaches for the men and women, Gibson and Bormetti emphasize that the two groups remain closely connected. Training camps largely overlap, and the coaches continue to work across both programs, supported by shooting specialist Matt Emmons, new Head Physiology Coach Justin Wadsworth, and new Head Development Coach Raleigh Goessling.

At Soldier Hollow, the team is putting greater emphasis on altitude training this season, while completing its final domestic camp before heading to Europe. With athletes showing strong progress and competition for World Cup opportunities intensifying, both coaches express optimism about the season ahead—and the longer road toward 2030.