Five Facts About Olympic Biathlete — And Woodturner — Sean Doherty

Sean Doherty attends a press conference ahead of the Olympic Winter Games PyeongChang 2018 on Feb. 7, 2018 in Pyeongchang-gun, South Korea.

Sean Doherty brings a wealth of experience to the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022. Competing in his third Olympics, he knows how to handle the intricacies of competing on the world’s biggest sports stage — from balancing media requests to adapting to different conditions not usually experienced at the more well-known biathlon venues. 
If everything aligns perfectly, he and/or one of his U.S. teammates could bring home the country’s first Olympic medal in biathlon.
Doherty is also the only woodturner on the team — and perhaps the only woodturner at these Olympic Winter Games. Or any Olympic Games. 
Here are five facts about the 26-year-old biathlete who now lives in Albany, Vermont, with girlfriend Tara Geraghty-Moats, the 2021 overall World Cup champion in women’s Nordic combined who recently switched to biathlon. Albany is located about 15 minutes from the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, which features a new biathlon range, and about an hour from the Army National Guard’s biathlon training venue in Jericho, Vermont.

Sean Doherty competes in men's 10-kilometer sprint during the the IBU World Cup on Dec. 10, 2021 in Hochfilzen, Austria.

Doherty describes his transition to the senior ranks as “interesting.” Until 2018, he had talented older teammates to chase, like world championship medalists Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke, and 2008 youth world championship bronze medalist Leif Nordgren, a fellow National Guardsman who’s also competing in his third Olympic Games in Beijing.
“Those three guys were really great training partners and really helped me accelerate my learning curve as a young guy moving into the senior and world cup racing levels,” Doherty said.
Between the Sochi and PyeongChang Olympic Winter Games, Doherty finished a handful of world cups in the top 20, and at the 2018 PyeongChang Games, the U.S. men were an outside favorite to win a medal in the team relay. 
But the PyeongChang biathlon course provided several challenges. Racing at night in winds that howled down from the Siberian plateau, Doherty struggled. He finished 44th in the individual (with three penalties) and 65th in the sprint (with four penalties). 
Frustrated, he knew he had to regroup before the relay — which he did. He ended up skiing the second leg of the relay with only one penalty.
“I’m really proud of that race,” he said. “It was a lot of work to get that because I had really struggled in the sprint and individual.”
After the 2018 Games, Bailey and Burke retired, and the men’s biathlon field became more competitive, especially in the middle ranks.
“The guy who gets 50th place this year is a lot better than the guy who used to get 50th five years ago,” explained Doherty.

Outside biathlon, Doherty is a woodturner, making beautiful bowls and pieces of art from native New England hardwoods. The process of woodturning has actually helped him as an athlete.
Doherty was introduced to woodturning by another family friend who cross-country skied at Great Glen Trails north of Center Conway. The friend would bring his lathe to a Christmas craft show at Great Glen, and Doherty was intrigued by the process.
“He was very open,” said Doherty of the family friend. “So I would go over to his house, and he would teach me [how to use a lathe].”
Around the same time, the utility company took down a large maple tree on the Doherty’s property, and Doherty wanted to preserve wood from this great tree through artwork. 
In high school, Doherty took night classes with the same family friend and continued to progress as a woodturner. His favorite woods are black cherry and yellow birch. But he really enjoys working with unique burls — knotty scar tissue that trees build in response to injury. 
“I kind of roll with what the piece gives me,” he explained. “Usually, especially with burls, I end up turning a lot of unusually shaped or just weird pieces.”
“I like to include and feature a lot of defects and voids whenever possible,” he added. 
Many of his works have natural edges (with the tree bark still in place) so they are more aesthetic than functional. But he still finishes all his pieces with food-grade oil.

Doherty describes woodturning as a self-sustaining hobby; he accepts commissions, especially if people have pieces of wood that they wish to preserve, like long-loved trees on their properties.
But he also looks for interesting pieces of wood while he is out training — on big hikes or on long runs.
“Often times, they’re on private property, and I just enjoy looking at them and thinking about what I could make,” he said.
Back at his lathe, he can slip into a meditative state while working with each piece of wood. But mostly, woodturning takes Doherty’s mind off biathlon. 
“I really enjoy working with my hands,” he said. “And it’s a really fun hobby that’s not training.”
To see some of Doherty’s work, check out www.seandohertybiathlete.com.