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An Interview with Rachel Steer
Published: Fri Oct 29, 2004 12:00 AM MDT This article was provided by Brian Olsen of www.frozenbullet.com 
Has moving home to Alaska been a part of your improving performances? Moving to Alaska was a great decision for me. I was not sure if I wanted to continue in biathlon and I figured I should be accomplishing something in my life while I decided. Attending University of Alaska Anchorage would save me money on my education. Living in Alaska gave me the opportunity to spend more time around my family. As a side benefit, Jan Buron, who was my coach from age 14-18, leads Alaska Winter Stars, a solid ski program. He listened to my concerns and worked with me from the very beginning. In Alaska, you are thousands of miles away from both your domestic and international competitors. How do you stay focused on leading a full-time biathlon life when you aren't surrounded by the sport for most of the year? It is definitely a compromise to stay here in Alaska. There is not a world-class rollerski loop, there are not many biathletes to train with, and my shooting coach is my mom. However, there are wonderful benefits of living here too. There are some great roads to rollerski on, I can ski into the shooting range and then shoot, and my mom has turned out to be a great shooting coach. I have learned that I need to balance my biathlon life with other things such as school, fishing, and family. When I lived in Vermont and Ruhpolding it was all about biathlon. I need some diversions to stay sane. What has it been like having primarily a ski coach for biathlon? First of all, I have become a much better classic skier since I started working with Jan. Good classic technique makes for improved skate technique and, although I may not look so pretty on classic skis, I think it has been worth it to focus on classic. Sometimes I have to work with Jan to tailor a workout to include shooting, but he is very open to my ideas and suggestions. Fortunately, I have a good idea of what to do for shooting so I don't need someone watching over me on the range. I need someone out there on the ski trail and that is where Jan and Ben Arians, our assistant coach, are really good. How do you approach a biathlon race? I learned the importance of a solid mental routine when I was still a junior. Launi Meili, an Olympic gold medalist in precision shooting worked with our team one summer. She guided us through imagery and visualization exercises. This opened up my eyes to a whole new aspect of sport. Since then, I have been fortunate to work with people who helped me refine my mental routine. Some of those people were trained in sport psychology, some were yoga gurus, and some were just very insightful people. When I was younger, I was very intimidated by racing. I would have trained all year and not raced at all if I could have. Now, I don’t let nerves take over before a race. I am in control all of the time. You've been the most consistent shooter on the U.S. team for many years. Last season, you were one of the best shots in the world. How have you become such a good shooter? It is hard for me to say exactly what helps me shoot well. I don't really watch other shooters, so I can't see the difference between one who hits and one who misses. I think it is very important to have the proper mental approach, but that mental approach can be anything. If thinking about your trigger finger is the key to shooting well, then go for it. If you have to shoot 200 rounds the day before a race to shoot well, great. What works for you is the key to shooting well and you only figure that out by experimenting. Do you have some high goals for the coming season? On which period of the season will you focus? I would like to race some mass starts and to do this I have to be fairly consistent from the beginning of the season because if you don't get into the top 30 early on, it is difficult to get in there later. However, I think that I will be stronger in February and March. The 2006 Olympic Games certainly seem like one of your primary objectives. What will it take for you to become the first American to win an Olympic medal in biathlon in 2006? A lot of luck. We are all doing the work to be medalists and sometimes you have to just hope all of the elements come together in a divine moment. I am not saying that there is no chance, but I cannot let my entire career hinge on one series of races. If it does happen in 2006 that you win a medal, or it doesn't, do you see yourself with enough motivation to continue through 2010 in Vancouver? Probably not, however, I have been to Vancouver a couple of times this fall and it is an awesome area. That is going to be one heck of an Olympics.
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