These headlines seem to have little in common – except for one thing. They all put Kristina Sabasteanski right in the spotlight. That’s because she is favored to make the 2002 U.S. Olympic Biathlon Team – and because of her “other” job.

That’s the one where she is known as Sergeant Sabasteanski, United States Army.

Kristina, a 1998 Olympian, is one of nearly two dozen of America’s top winter athletes who also represent the United States Armed Forces. Kristina is a member of the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. This is a military program that identifies exceptional soldier-athletes and provides them with opportunities to compete in national and international events. These events can lead to qualifying for the United States Olympic Team.

Her participation in biathlon and association with the military began in her teenage years.

Kristina lived in New Hampshire and loved cross-country skiing. Her brother introduced her to biathlon, a sport that combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting. Kristina participated with her brother in biathlon races sponsored by the New Hampshire National Guard.

“We could show up and they’d let us borrow a rifle and we could try a race. I’d never picked up a rifle before!” says Kristina.

She became seriously involved in biathlon in 1989, when a group of biathletes transferred to Castleton State College where she was studying. They were training for the World University Games to be held in Bulgaria, so Kristina borrowed a rifle and started training with them. About a month before the trials she had to return the borrowed rifle, so Kristina made the decision to spend nearly every penny she had to buy her own.

The trials were the first time Kristina had ever skied with a rifle on her back. But after an amazing competition she made the team, even beating a woman who was already on the national team. After those trials Kristina says, “I was completely hooked!”

Kristina graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1991, but she says, “I didn’t want to get a real job yet!”

So she moved to Lake Placid to continue biathlon training. She worked as a waitress and found a coach who would help her with a training program during his off-hours. She continued to workout, but this lifestyle was very difficult. She had two workouts a day and then waited tables from 5 p.m. until midnight. The hard work paid off though, and in 1995, after four years of working and training, Kristina made the World Cup Team.

It was then that Kristina decided to join the Army. “The Vermont National Guard had a great program to train biathletes,” says Kristina. “It was just too hard to work and train, and I didn’t have any financial sources. But in the National Guard, I was on military orders, and part of my job was to train in biathlon. I was on duty one weekend a month and two weeks out of the year. Whenever I was racing in World Cup Races, I was on military duty and would represent the military at those events.”

The next year Kristina joined the U.S. Army World Class Athlete Program. “The World Class Athlete Program is full-time active duty,” says Kristina. “My job is to get on the Olympic team and represent the Army at the Olympics. It is an amazing program.”

Kristina’s life is completely focused now on her sport and preparing for the Olympics. There are some distractions though. With recent events in America, many soldiers are being called up to active duty. If these soldier-athletes are called up as well, they could end up at war – not at the Olympics. Does that worry Kristina?

“We are soldiers first,” she says. “If it comes to that – if there’s war and they really need us, we’ll go.”

In the meantime, her duty is to continue to train for the Olympic Games. “We knew when we signed up that that’s the chance we would take. But we don’t give up. We still need to train. We won’t be successful if we quit.”

Kristina is passionate about biathlon. “This is a real athletic event. I’m using every part of my body – but then I have to stop to shoot and it’s 100% mental focus. A good shooting bout is when all I see is the target and I don’t have good thoughts or bad thoughts – all I think about is the trigger and the target.”

Kristina is quick to point out that there really isn’t much time to think. The biathletes drop their poles, shoot five targets, and pick up their poles to ski again – all in about thirty seconds. That’s only two seconds in between shots. Kristina explains, “When I’m skiing, I’m thinking about skiing. But then when I get to the (shooting) range, I just shut everything off.”

Kristina nearly made the Olympic team in 1994, but missed qualifying by 6/10 of a point, one place short of a trip to Lillehammer, Norway. A moment of great pride for her was when she qualified for the U.S. Olympic Team in 1998. She competed in Nagano, Japan, where she placed a respectable 33rd in the 7.5 kilometer race – the top finish by an American athlete. Sgt. Sabasteanski received the Army Commendation Medal for her outstanding performance at the Nagano Games.

The U.S. Olympic Trials for the 2002 Olympics will be held December 29 – January 5 at Soldier Hollow, the biathlon venue for 2002. The top four women – those who have the best three out of four races – will represent the United States at the Salt Lake Games.

Kristina hopes that having the Olympics here in America will increase the American public’s interest in the sport. “In Europe, biathlon races are televised. The World Cup Competitions are week-long events with fans lined up four deep along the trail. When we shoot, they all cheer! It’s a really exciting sport.”

At thirty-two, Kristina says this is probably her last year of competition. She and her husband have a home in Maine and hope to start a family soon. But for now, she says, “I’m still learning. That’s probably why I’ve stuck with it for so long. Every single day, I learn something new.”