Zoe May Noble grew up on a cattle ranch in Cora and raced for the Pinedale High School Nordic Ski Team. Now, she’s vying for a spot to represent Team USA in biathlon in the upcoming Winter Olympics in Italy.
She’ll compete in qualifying trials in Craftsbury, Vermont this weekend.
The sport is a combination of cross country skiing and rifle shooting, with roots in the Scandinavian military. While race format can vary, biathlon involves cross-country skiing multiple laps at top speed, interspersed with shooting a series of targets from both a prone, laying down position and an upright, standing position.
Noble, age 25, said the dual-sport nature of biathlon means a competitor has to be two athletes in one.
“ You have to be a very fit and capable cross country skier, and then you have to put a rifle on your back and you have to be a very capable sharpshooter,” she said. “ Those things are trained separately and in conjunction.”
Noble qualified for the Junior Nationals Team with the High Plains Nordic Association for all four years of high school. But she didn’t try biathlon until she was in college at Alaska Pacific University.
She said a big part of the sport is learning how to accurately shoot with a really high heart rate.
“ You're at, like, 190 beats per minute and it's freezing cold,” she said. “You can't feel your fingers. Everything is happening all at once and you have 30 seconds to try to hit five targets .”
Having a resilient mental attitude is also a big part of being a successful biathlete. Missing a target can mean getting time automatically added to your final score or having to ski a penalty lap.
“There’s many, many factors, and you have to be a competent shooter to be able to [manage] that,” said Noble. “But then when it all goes right, it feels really good, because when you hit all five targets super fast and super clean, you are inspired to ski even harder.”
Noble is part of the National Guard Biathlon team and will compete in three races in Vermont to try and secure one of six spots for both the U.S. Biathlon international team and the Olympics team. Those six spots will then be winnowed down to four, and those athletes will compete in the 2026 Olympics.
“ I am racing women who have been on the international circuit many times and they have years of experience on me,” said Noble. “They are veterans that I look up to and I hope to chase down.”
Regardless of how the races shake out, Noble said she’s really psyched to have the opportunity to race at that level and wants to keep her focus on doing what she does best.
“ I would like to race well, and I think that result-based goals are not productive,” she said. “So my goals are really more to ski very strong and to hit all of my targets, which are things that I can control.”
Even if the upcoming Olympics don’t end up being in the cards, Noble also has her eyes out for the games in 2030 and 2034, which will take place in France and Salt Lake City.
“ I'm still very happy to toe the line and to raise the level as biathlon gains popularity and gains momentum going into the Olympics,” she said. “I'm very grateful and I hope that maybe someone reads this article and is like, ‘I want to try biathlon.’”
If Noble earns a spot on the team, she’ll be joining two other Wyoming women in Milano Cortina. Teton Village runner Anna Gibson will compete in ski mountaineering and Alta-based freestyle skier Jaelin Kauf will compete in single and dual moguls at the 2026 Olympics.
