Born in the small mountain town of Durango, Colorado we grew up with a love for the outdoors. With our older sister Christie we tried every outdoor and sports activity that we could come up with and spent countless hours exploring the mountains. Our first big love was soccer. We started playing when we were about 8 years old and played into high school. We both loved soccer and dreamed of someday being in the soccer world cup. We were also competitive shooters. Growing up our dad would take us hunting and fishing and our mom would take us hiking in the mountains around Durango. At a very young age our father taught us how to shoot, first with a bow and suction cup arrows, then as we got older riles and shotguns. In middle school we went to a couple of state small-bore shooting competitions and at one of them we met a man who was helping the U.S. Biathlon team with their shooting. He told us about the sport. Growing up in the downhill mecha of Colorado we didn’t know what cross country skiing was, but shooting while on the fly sounded like our kind of adventure and also a good way to stay in shape for soccer, so we signed up for cross country skiing that year. After a few years of trying the sport we were hooked. Our dream of playing in the soccer World Cup changed to competing in the biathlon World Cup. We made our first World Jr. Championship team at the age of 18 and medaled in the World Jr. Championships the next year at the age of 19. Lanny competed in her first World Cup that same year. Tracy made the World Championship team the next year while still a junior competitor. Since our junior career we’ve been competing as seniors for the past four years now and have competed in World Cups and several World Championships since. We competed in the 2006 Olympics three years agao and hope to represent the US in the Olympics in 2010 in Vancouver as well as coach kids and help as many of them reach their dreams in biathlon as possible.

Lanny & Tracy Barnes

Age: 24
Date of Birth: 04/26/82
Height: 5’4
Weight: 115
Home Town: Durango, Colorado

Favorite Food: Mexican
Favorite Movie: A River Runs Through It
Most embarrassing sports moment: (Lanny) In a World Cup Relay race when my teammate was tagging off to me, I took out two girls from Slovenia on live TV, they played it over and over all over Europe for two weeks.

Quote: “A true champion is someone bent over, drenched in sweat, at the point of exhaustion when no one else is looking.”
-Anson Dorance

 

What Lanny says about Tracy:

Even though I’m 5 minutes older, Tracy has always stepped up and played the role of the older sister. In other words she doesn't take crap from anyone and always puts things in perspective for me. She is tough as nails and nothing ever gets to her. I can honestly say that I’m the luckiest person in the world because I get to train with my hero and biggest competition every day. It is such a big advantage for us to be able to train and push each other to be better day in and day out. Tracy has this attitude that when someone tells her she is incapable of doing something it only makes her more motivated to get it done and do it right. She has the do or die attitude, never give up mindset, and will always be there to help her teammates no matter what.

What Tracy says about Lanny:

There is something inside Lanny that makes her one of the fiercest competitors I know. I know her better than anyone and I still don’t know what it is about her that makes her so darn good under pressure. In soccer, during practice she couldn’t make a penalty kick to save her life, but in a game she was the one that the team would rely on to make it, she never missed a penalty kick during a game. And in biathlon. I can out shoot her day in and day out in training, but I know come race day, I better have my “A” game because the chances of her missing are slim. You can always rely on her to come through when the pressure is intense.

 

 

Career Highlights:  

2nd- 2002 World Jr. Championships– Relay
3rd– 2002 World Jr. Championships– Individual
2002 US Olympic Committee Athlete of the Year
1st– 2002 Olympic Team Trials– Individual
3rd– 2003 Ridnaun, Italy European Cup– Individual
Junior World Championship Team (2001-2003)
2nd– 2004 Boemerwald Lauf, Austria
World Championship Team– 2005,2007,2008, 2009
1st– 2005 World Champs Team Trials– Sprint and Pursuit
Raced World Cups 2002, 2004, 2005, 2006,2007,2008, 2009

National Champion 2007

US National Champ runner up 2009
Olympic Team 2006

 

 

Career Highlights:

 

2nd- 2002 Relay World Junior Chanpionships
8th– 2002 World Jr. Championships Individual
1st– 2003 World Team Trials Pursuit
World Jr. Championship Team 2001-2003
1st 2004 Bomerwald Lauf, Austria
3rd-2004 World Team Trials– Sprint
World Championship Team 2003,2006,2007,2008, 2009
25th 2005 Poklujka World Cup– Sprint
25th 2005 Poklujka World Cup– Pursuit
1st– 2005 Super Sprint Europa Cup, Switzerland
Olympic Team 2006

40th 2008 Pokljuka World Cup- Individual

US National & North American Champion 2009