For St. Paul biathlete Jake Brown, Olympics are a long way from Mora Vasaloppet

BEIJING — It's always good to have goals in life. When Jake Brown was a young cross-country skier, his was pretty simple: to win one of the Swedish Dala horses given as trophies at the Mora Vasaloppet.

His ambitions are a little grander now. Tuesday, the biathlete from St. Paul finished 13^th in the men's 4x7.5-kilometer relay at the Beijing Olympics, wrapping up his first Winter Games. Brown combined with two other Minnesota-connected athletes — Leif Nordgren of Marine on St. Croix and former St. Scholastica skier Paul Schommer — and New Hampshire native Sean Doherty to race on one of the coldest days of a frigid Olympics.

The event was the last of these Olympics for the U.S. men's biathlon team, which did not qualify any athletes for the 15km mass start on Friday. Brown, 29, posted the best individual results of the four-man group. He finished 28^th in the 20km, 36^th in the 10km sprint and 40^th in the 12.5km pursuit.

Brown did get one of those Dala horses, winning a race at the Vasaloppet when he was in third grade. Since then, he's added to his trophy case in multiple sports, including an NCAA team championship in cross-country running at St. Olaf.

He didn't try biathlon until later in life, but it has delivered the biggest prize of all.

"I always watched the Olympics and thought they were awesome," said Brown, who now lives and trains in Vermont. "But I wasn't in the U.S. Ski Team pipeline, so I knew that was a pipe dream.

"Then I went to a [U.S. Biathlon] talent ID camp, and I thought if I did well, maybe I could go for the Olympic dream. To make it, and to go with such a great group of guys, is really cool."

As a kid, Brown raced the Mora Vasaloppet every year with his parents, Bill and Karen Brown. He added cross-country running and track to his sports menu at Minnehaha Academy.

He competed in cross-country and track at Princeton for two years and later transferred to St. Olaf, which Brown called the best decision of his life. Phil Lundin, then the Oles' track and cross-country coach, supported Brown's desire to join the Nordic ski team as well. Brown excelled in all three sports, finishing eighth at the NCAA cross-country meet in 2013 while helping the Oles to the NCAA Division III team title.

Though he had only shot a rifle once, when he was in Boy Scouts, Brown was intrigued with biathlon. He made an impression at the talent identification camp and was invited to join the U.S. development team in 2016. But things didn't come easily.

"The shooting was very difficult to pick up," Brown said. "I was really bad for two years. The key was perseverance, and having a little bit of success at the right times."

Brown made a big leap forward at the 2021 world championships, with a career-best 12^th-place finish in the sprint. A 23^rd-place finish in the first race of this season put him on the Olympic team.

His aim in Beijing was to just enjoy the experience. Once he got into biathlon, Brown realized the racing and competing was an end in itself, an attitude he wanted to carry over to the biggest races of his career.

Tuesday might have been the coldest day of the Olympics, with temperatures below zero Fahrenheit, but Brown left Zhangjiakou feeling nothing but warmth.

"I'm really honored to be here," Brown said. "It's been a sweet experience to share with these guys after putting in the work together over the summer. Hopefully next time we can take one more step forward."